Remember Me
by BlueNoise
Summary: One week of not remembering. One week without the past. R/I. Oh, there's a case. Now complete.
1. Chapter  1

**Title**: Remember Me

**Summary**: One week of not remembering. One week without the past getting in the way. One week of freedom. R/I. Oh and there's a case.

**Rating**: T for now might become M in later chapters

**Disclaimer**: I own nothing. The characters all belong to Kim Harrison and blablabla.

**Part**: 1 of 10

**Time line**: Set some time post Kisten's death and the finding of his killer but I'm just ignoring the fact that Rachel technically gets shunned in that book(right?) and pretending it's all well and good in Rachel land.

**A/N**: Yes, I know the memory loss thing is cliché and has been done to death in hundreds of different fan-fics and probably as many different fandoms. Still I hope I can give it a little new twist as we wait for _A Perfect Blood_.

**A/N 2**: I think Ivy is by far the most interesting of all the characters in the Hollows and I hope I will do her justice as I play inside her head. This story is going to be told from Ivy's point of view and _only hers._

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><p><strong>One<strong>

I stared at the screen trying to focus on something other than the fact that it was ten past eight and Rachel wasn't back from the Ever After. She was supposed to have been back at eight and while Rachel was good at being late, Al was usually punctual. Surprisingly so - for a demon.

I focused back on the computer. One of my contacts had info on a kidnapped sixteen year old living vampire, but he would only meet at _Stone. Stone _was a newly opened club south of the river. They didn't have an MPL and I had heard some unpleasant things (or very pleasant depending on your taste) went down there. Not that I was really worried, but I would have preferred a coffee shop or the church. Still if my contact could come up with something that would let me help Lucy -the young vamp that had been kidnapped - it would be worth spending an hour feeling hungry and horny.

I yawned – bedtime for me had been over three hours ago – but it wasn't like I was going to get any sleep with Rachel in the Ever After. I got up to pour myself some orange juice just as I heard a soft noise out in the graveyard. It could have been Jenks and the rest of the pixies but a moment later I heard Rachel swear, confirming that she was indeed back. Filling my Vampiric Charms mug with juice I took a few quick steps back to my computer, hoping the relief I felt didn't show on my face.

"Hi, Ivy. Good thing you're still up," Rachel began to talk as soon as she entered the kitchen. "I really, really need some coffee." She reached for the pot I had put on fifteen minutes earlier, very well knowing coffee would be the first thing Rachel craved. The second would be a shower and after that she would fall asleep. Only after that would **I** be able to go to bed, knowing she was alright and sleeping across the hall. "I'm going to re-organize all my herbs later so if you could not be in the kitchen that'd be great. I mean I guess you could stay but I might get stuff on your computer if I need to use the table-" I frowned as she babbled.

"What's going on Rachel?" I asked suspiciously. If Rachel wanted me out of the kitchen, chances were she was spelling – which meant I didn't really want to be in the kitchen anyways. But Rachel usually just warned me she would be spelling. Unless she was doing something she felt I wouldn't approve of. Like a demon curse.

"If you're planning on being here for dinner," Rachel barely stopped to take a breath before continuing her prattling. "I thought I'd cook up that fish Mr.-Pimple-Face gave you. Maybe I'll make pasta, does pasta go well with that kind of fish?" she asked turning to me while biting her lip. Her small teeth nibbling on her lip distracted me for a moment. I didn't need an hour at a club – all I needed was a second with a redheaded witch biting her lip – for me to get hungry and horny. _Fuck_, I really was one messed up puppy.

"Yes," I assured her after a second. "With some cream and put it in the oven for a while."

"The pasta?" Rachel asked grimacing.

"I was thinking the fish," I clarified as I turned back to the computer deciding I didn't need the pair of new boots I had been staring absent mindedly at for the past few minutes.

"Oh, yeah, sure. Maybe I'll get some crabsticks on the way home," Rachel mumbled as she blushed slightly and turned to look under the sink for something – a spell pot I guessed.

"You heading out?" I didn't look up from the screen, hoping my fake casualness was convincing her. It was stupid for me to always want to keep track on her, but that didn't make me stop doing it. If she got herself into trouble, me knowing where she was might be the difference between life and death. And since Rachel only had one life (or more like one death) I really didn't want to take any chances with it. Unlike Rachel who seemed to think everything would just work out I was realistic. I knew the monsters out there. I had been one of them.

"Yeah, I'm going to my mom's. I want to ask her about a spell, I'll be gone a while... but you'll be here for dinner?" she got up with a large spell pot under her arm and a hopeful expression on her face.

Like I could have said no to that look, _even_ if I'd wanted to_. _I was such a_ sucker._

"Yes. I'll be here."

The night air was cold and the music coming from inside the club loud. I was already feeling hungry. I'd need to call a _friend_ or go and see Rynn after I met with my source and before I went home for dinner. I would have enough time, it might be dark out but it was February. It was dark before six every day. I glared at an annoying pink balloon hovering by the entrance _We want to Overload your Senses. Happy Bloody Valentine's Day._ It wasn't Valentine's Day until Friday but it seemed the people at _Stone_ didn't really care.

At least that was the impression I got as I walked through the throngs of people, most of them involved in something Rachel might call dancing, but I called sex with clothes on. _Stone_ was clearly popular to be this packed at eight, but that was Cincinnati for you. People could party before midnight - no problems.

My phone rang – the ID caller letting me know it was Rachel. I glanced around and saw a neon sign pointing me to the bathroom. I pushed my way over there as the phone kept on ringing.

"Rachel?" I said as I closed the door to the bathroom, shutting most of the music out. It was thankfully quite large and only smelt vaguely of urine and a dozen other odors I didn't want to define. As I answered I felt very confused to why she was calling me when she knew I was meeting with a source. She wouldn't do that without a good reason.

"Is this Ivy Tamwood?" a voice I after a second recognized as Alice Morgan's – Rachel's mom – asked pleasantly. I felt my heart pick up speed.

"Is Rachel alright?" I asked holding my breath.

"Yes, yes. She's fine. Sort of, but I think you should get over here. To my house." Alice didn't sound too upset but the fact that she wanted me to come over made me imagine horrible scenarios of spells going wrong and/or some demon showing up to drag Rachel into the Ever After. Both frequent nightmares of mine, even if they're only second to the dreams where I am the one killing her - to the times when I wake up thinking I can still taste her blood.

"Is she alright?" I asked again more forcefully.

"No need to get pissy," Alice's voice rose a bit. "I told you, she's fine."

"Put her on the phone," I demanded but the woman on the other side only sighed. Then she hung up. I pulled the phone from my ear to look at it, not quite believing she had _actually_ hung up on me. The woman was almost as frustrating as her daughter.

I texted my source that I needed to re-schedule for tomorrow, both pissed at Rachel for; pulling me away from a job AND getting more worried by the second. Why would she _need_ me to come over. Most days Rachel liked to pretend she didn't need anyone, something usually had to go really wrong for her to call me.

Three adolescent vampires, one girl and two boys were admiring my cycle when I got out to the open area that functioned as a parking lot for the club. The scattered when they realized who I was, giving me mixed looks of awe and fear. I ignored them, hating the way they still looked at me even though it had been a long time since I had been Piscary's scion_. Not long enough though_. I doubted it would ever be a time when the world would forget_. Maybe when I'm dead... _

It was still very much winter outside, but the black ice that had nearly made me crash my cycle when I got it out of storage the other week had melted away. The roads were relatively safe but I'd stake myself twice if I crashed my cycle because of carelessness and slippery roads. Still, I drove slightly above the speed limit wanting to get to Mrs. Morgan's house as soon as possible, mostly to keep myself from speculating on what could have happened to Rachel. I had always been one to expect the worst and my mind was coming up with one horrible thing after another.

I knocked hard on the door and then tried the handle without waiting. The door was unlocked and swung in. _Careless_. I took two fast steps in, not smelling any blood or the sulfur smell Al or some other demon would have left behind if one had shown up. I relaxed a little bit.

"Good, you're here," Alice said as she came into the hall. "Take those snowy boots off before-"

"Is she alright?" I asked as I slipped off my leather boots, worried that Rachel wasn't there to greet me in the hall. She would know her mother's call had worried me; if she could she would have been in the hall to make sure I didn't freak out. Something bad must have happened. The not knowing was the worst part. I needed to know what had happened, so I would know just how bad it was.

"Now dear there's no need to panic," Alice said, her striking resemblance to Rachel making me have to look at her a few seconds more. Every time I saw the older witch it shocked me how much a like they looked. They could pass for sisters.

"Where?" I asked the redwood sent coming from both Alice and the house mixing completely with Rachel's familiar scent making it impossible for me to pin point where in the house she was.

"Living room, but I…" I brushed passed her down the hall, past the kitchen and into the living room. I stopped and stared for a moment.

"Hi," Rachel said as she smiled at me from the couch. She looked calm. I wasn't quite sure what the emergency was until she continued. "I'm Rachel, my…uh…mom…says I know you?"

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><p>Thanks for RxR!<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

**Part**: 2 of 10

**Fan art: **Check out my account on deviant art - Mango517_  
><em>

**A/N: **Grrr I can't wait for the book to come out. I mean those previews... /SPOILERS for A Perfect Blood - _I couldn't help but wonder, though, if what I was really fleeing was seeing Glenn and Ivy - happy together - and knowing it could have been me._ END SPOILERS/… they just drive me mad.

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><p>"<em>Hi," Rachel said as she smiled at me from the couch. She looked calm. I wasn't quite sure what the emergency was until she continued. "I'm Rachel, my…uh…mom…says I know you?"<em>

**Two**

"I told you. No need to panic," Alice said as she entered the living room a few seconds after me. I stared at the two red heads in front of me. No need to _panic_? I looked warily at Rachel; sure this must be a practical joke. A very bad one. But Rachel just smiled at me with a familiar yet alien look in her eyes.

"Why don't you sit down? Have some tea and I'll tell you what's going on," Alice began to pour watery brown liquid in to a cup set in front of an empty chair. It looked like I had interrupted tea time – I imagined Rachel would have preferred coffee. But if this whole thing wasn't a practical joke I guessed Rachel didn't _know_ she would have liked coffee a hell of a lot better than the fruit smelling tea.

"It's really not as bad as it sounds," Rachel tried to reassure me, but since she followed it up with a sip of tea it didn't really inspire confidence. I sat down because I thought if I stood up as I heard what they might tell me, my knees would give out.

I remembered when Rachel had lost her memory after Kisten's death. She had told me about memory charms and spells. I hadn't really been paying that close attention but the gist of it had been that you couldn't _just_ undo the spell. If you tried you might end up worse than before. I felt my insides turn cold as I thought about what that meant in this scenario. Rachel didn't remember me or worse _herself_. She was just a shell. She wasn't my partner or my friend anymore, she wasn't even really Rachel. And there was no safe way to get her back. If either she or her mom tried to fix it Rachel might end up drooling and with less brain capacity than a bread roll.

"How is it not as bad as it sounds?" I asked. After hearing just how flat and emotionless my voice sounded I wasn't surprised that both Rachel and Alice looked worried. It didn't really matter what they thought anymore. Whatever Rachel, Jenks and I had built with Vampiric Charm was over. I had always known one day it would end. I just hadn't thought it'd be this soon.

"It's only temporary, you see," Alice said with a nervous glance at Rachel and I felt a twinge of hope. "She got an idea from Al. Something about creating a memory blocker for your cells. Genetics and magic is not something I approve of mix but-"

"What? _My_ cells?"

"Yes. She thought she figured out a spell that would make a vampires cells forget they craved blood. Since you don't need it, yet," Rachel frowned clearly not remembering what her mom was talking about. "Her hope was that it wouldn't affect you in any other way than remove your blood lust." Alice smiled as if proud of her daughter.

"She figured out a way to stop my blood lust?" I asked, shocked and glad I had sat down. Just like all things I don't understand I like to keep magic at arm's-length but if Rachel had truly figured out a way to fix me or at least get rid of the blood lust, that would be a magic I'd be willing to risk trying.

"Well it was a good plan, but since the spell couldn't be permanent, because you will need blood after you die, we were doing some…tinkering," Alice finished looking uneasy. I looked at Rachel as if asking her to fill in the facts her mother was clearly leaving out. She of course couldn't but rolled her eyes.

"I think we were doing something kind of illegal and she doesn't want to tell you. Something to do with the Turn," Rachel rolled her eyes and picked up a cookie from the plate.

"You know about the Turn?" I asked surprised.

"Yes, yes of course she does. She remembers everything except herself. It was part of the spell. It was only supposed to affect your blood lust, not create another epidemic like the Turn. The point was not to stop every other vampire from wanting to drink blood. Just you."

"That wouldn't be half bad with a vamp epidemic actually," I muttered as I looked down at my tea cup. "But back to Rachel. You said it's not permanent? She'll be Rachel again?" I looked up almost daring to feel hopeful.

"We figured a form of modified temporary memory potion would do it. I never taught her how to handle those. It's my fault really. Even a small amount spilt on ones skin automatically enterers the blood stream. And because memory charms are unlike most magic the water and salt in your body doesn't break it. "

"What _does_ break it then?" I asked setting my cup down looking right at the older witch. I wasn't pulling an aura but it wasn't far from it. I was hungry, frightened and she was holding out on me.

"Time." I glanced over at Rachel surprised she had been the one to answer. "A few days up to a week."

"And she probably won't remember the time the spell was in her system," Alice said carefully looking between me and Rachel.

"What?" I asked confused. "Why?"

"She has a memory charm inside of her. Once her own magic finally manages to realize it and reject it…well the consequences are unpredictable…"

"I might fall over and scream," Rachel offered when Alice didn't."Or I might start bleeding from everywhere. Or simply collapse. Then when and if I wake up I will probably not remember anything from the time the memory potion was in my system. It's like being drunk for a week. I can always say "hey I don't remember doing that" and "I was so out of it" or whatever," Rachel said in a fashion that was very like My Rachel. Then she turned to her mom. "Are you sure I like tea?"

"No," I said at the same time as Alice said "yes." A short awkward silence ensued as Rachel put her tea cup down.

"So you'll be fine?" I asked Rachel, feeling better than I had in a long time. Who knew having you're world come crashing down and then getting it back made you feel like you were on a blood high.

"Probably. I just won't remember much and there's the potential screaming and bleeding part," Rachel shrugged. "I guess I won't be as much of a cluts the next time I play with memory potions."

"Good then, I'm glad we cleared this up. I knew you'd want Miss. Tamwood to know about your situation as soon as possible." Alice picked up the tray and Rachel snagged another cookie from the plate.

"She seems a little crazy. It's not hereditary is it?" Rachel asked me in a conspiratorial whisper, as we heard Alice out in the kitchen turn the water on.

"Sometimes I wonder if it is. But no," I told her feeling a little awkward. Rachel was my best friend – my only true friend – the one person in the world who knew me and liked me anyways. Now she was acting like a fake friend or perhaps like she though she should act. It was like when all the other people in the world tried to make nice to me for my name, my blood or my body. Still she was doing it because perhaps it was all she could do. But it felt false and the Rachel I knew was never false. I couldn't wait for this week to be over.

"Okay that's good," she said and the conversation died. I wished that Jenks was there to keep it going since the silence and Rachel staring at me was freaking me out.

"Rachel honey? I thought you might want to lay down for a bit. I was going to go and make up your room, for later, so if you two are done talking, I thought a nice nap would be in order," Alice said bustling back into the living room. I stood up, sensing that Alice probably wanted me to get going. Having a vamp in the house in the middle of the night probably was a strange thing for Rachel's mom.

"I think I want to go with Ivy, mom," Rachel said surprising both me and Alice. "Just let me say this." She stood up and held out a finger as Alice opened her mouth. "I'm sure you're a great mom and everything but I don't live with you anymore. I live with Ivy. You said we're roommates and work together. She probably knows more about what I'm like. I don't really want to spend a week trying to be someone you remember me from years ago. You and Ivy are both strangers to me. I don't know you any more than I know her. But I think Ivy knows me more," she looked hopefully at her mother. Alice smiled tight lipped.

"Yes, yes, I think you're right. I was just looking forward to having you here for a while. But I should really be packing for the move. It might be for the best. Besides," Alice smile widened and she hugged her daughter. She looked right at me as she continued."I've always thought you seemed the happiest when you were with Ivy." I blinked in surprise wondering exactly what Alice meant by that.

"Is that alright with you Ivy?" Rachel asked as she pulled out of the hug, seeming a bit uncomfortable. I would have been too, had a strange woman hugged me. Sure Alice might be her mom, but she was still a stranger to Rachel since she clearly didn't remember more than an hour or two of her life.

"Yes of course," I said unable to refuse her, since she was right about me knowing her best but still not looking forward to a week of telling Rachel about herself. Or about me, for that matter.

"Well then, unless you want to stay for dinner I guess you should get going. I have an errand to run anyway. I'll walk you out," and with that Rachel's mom began to push us towards the exit.

Rachel fumbled with her jacket's zipper for a good minute before I remembered it had broken the other week and wouldn't catch properly, and told her to just use the buttons. It didn't seem to bother Rachel that much that she couldn't even dress herself and I thought she seemed way too calm for a person who didn't remember anything.

But maybe just because she didn't remember she didn't worry?

"Come on Ivy, it's snowing," Rachel said impatiently as she opened the door. "Come on," she said again and to my surprise grabbed my hand to tug me along. I smiled at Alice at the door, who smiled widely back at me. "Where is your car?" Rachel asked turning back to me.

"I came on my bike," I let go of our clasped hands to point at the cycle. "Maybe we should ask your mom for a ride?" I suggested. I knew witches got cold a lot faster than almost all other Inlanders and humans, and Rachel always acted like riding on my bike would turn her into a Popsicle. And that was during spring, summer and autumn, since I had the cycle in storage for most of winter. It appeared I had been to optimistic about taking it out of storage early this year. Why couldn't it just stop snowing? I didn't mind the cold that much but the snow made traffic jam up like nothing else. Thankfully, the snow was coming down slowly and I guessed the roads would be alright for a while.

"Way cool. I can't wait to go on it!" Rachel looked like a child on Christmas as she stared at my baby. "Can I drive it?" she turned back to me with big bright eyes.

"No," I told her getting the helmet out handing it to her. My blunt refusal didn't dampen her excitement one bit and as we drove through the night towards our church I was forced to listen to a running commentary about everything we drove past. It wasn't too bad actually, this Rachel reminded me of the young new I.S. agent that had been thrust upon me so long ago. A happier more carefree Rachel. A Rachel I had fallen in love with.

"You keep your key in your bag but it's full of junk so you'll have to dig around for it. I'm just going to get the bike in the garage," I said as I braked and turned the bike's key making it come to a sudden stop. Rachel slipped off and I was surprised she was quiet because she had been chatting my ears up until a minute ago.

"We live in a church?" she asked as I looked back at her.

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><p>Thanks for RxR! Something I've always been confused about – does the church have a garage? Anyone?<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Part**: 3 of 10

**A/N:** So what to say, I really want chocolate and to finish the children's book I'm writing for school. And the YA novel. And that's about it. Only two books to write in,,, three weeks? Ohh goodie.

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><p><strong>Three<strong>

The sun had just set, it was almost time for lunch and the kitchen smelled of cookies. Rachel was baking with an unnatural cheeriness that was making my head pound as I tried to get a hold of my source. He wasn't answering my texts and I was getting frustrated. I needed to get a lead on Lucy – she had hopefully just run away – the reason the I.S. wasn't doing anything about it was because she had done so in the past. And no one wanted to start an incident in case it was something political. Like someone getting her for blood or sex. Still she could have just run away which was what I was hoping for. But I needed something, anything to be able to find her and bring her home. Hopefully after she realized how good she had it at home and wouldn't run away again but also before she learned just _how_ bad the real world could be.

"Hey, we have an ice cream maker, look. It's not even open." Rachel held up the ice cream machine Skimmer had sent me for Christmas. It had been a private joke, something we had talked about back in boarding school. Making our own ice cream and eating it off…well…each other. I got up and quickly snatched the box from Rachel.

I wasn't sure what to say so I just took a few steps back and set the box down next to my computer. Trying to stay calm, and seem like snatching ice cream machines from people was an everyday occurrence, I turned back to my computer.

"Hey memory-less Rache, how you settling in? Those cookies smells f-i-ne." Jenks buzzed in just as Rachel sat down on the chair closest to me. _My_ Rachel knew not to sit that close. Knew that the wonderful smell that was Rachel, witch and power would trigger my instincts. "Tinks titties, what you do? Forget to wipe a fairy's butt? Someone is in trouble," Jenks cackled too close to my ear seeing Rachel's displeased look.

"You don't want me to make ice cream? I thought you said I did the cooking and you did the buying groceries thing?" Rachel said carefully, apparently slightly aware that she was pissing me off. And turning me on. _Fuck_, I couldn't even sit next to my best friend for a minute without vamping out.

"Oh, the ice cream box. Sorry Rache, can't help you with this," Jenks said flying around Rachel's head and then out towards the sanctuary. I could see Rachel was about to speak.

"Could you just don't?" I asked between gritted teeth. "Don't ask about the ice cream box." For a minute I thought she was going to do what a normal person would. But just like _My_ Rachel had when the box had shown up, she had to poke at the tiger.

"Why can't we just make ice cream? What's so bad about the ice cream maker?" I pulled the box closer to me while pressing my lips hard together. "Ivy, what's goi-"

I got up and left.

_My_ Rachel would not have followed. She had read Rynn's vampire dating guide. She would know rushing after an upset vampire was like saying _Bite-Here_ and offering up her neck. This Rachel however did not. It wasn't her fault, really. I mean she had enough of a surprise by being told she lived in a church. The fact that there were dozens of pixies living in her desk had also freaked her out, especially since Jenks seemed to find the whole Rachel-can't-remember-anything situation funny. So I hadn't had the heart to hand her a vampire sex guide on top of all that. I should have, though, despite the awkwardness that would have ensued.

"Hey Ivy wait up. I didn't mean to upset you, but what's the deal? I'm just trying to understand," she said in a rush as she followed me down the corridor. I so did not want to have a repeat of the first night we had stayed in the church together. Failing in seduction once (or maybe it's really been a dozen times by now) was enough.

"Stop following me," I growled at her.

"I'm sorry," she said, suddenly smelling of fear. Delicious fear. I was sure my pupils were growing larger by the second. I didn't care. All I cared about was how tempting she smelled. How green her eyes were. The rest seemed to melt away as the air filled with pheromones. "Ivy?" I smiled at her. I liked it when she said my name.

"Feels good doesn't it," I said hearing the dark promise in my voice. It somehow didn't worry me. She wanted this; she wanted to share her blood, her everything with me. I could tell because her hand went to her neck. To her scar. She wanted this. She wanted _me_.

"Ivy?"She said again looking confused. "Ivy," she whispered it and it made my insides sing. A beautiful song composed only of my name. It was calling to me. As Rachel began to stumble from the pheromones in the air I gently caught her steadying us both against the wall. "What's oing oon?" she slurred as I breathed her in. I wanted to draw her into me and take everything. And she wanted to give it to me.

"Shhh, relax," I whispered next to her hair brushing some red curls away from her face. Her eyes focused on me with what I guessed a major effort. She smelled so good. I could almost taste her blood. I remembered the taste so well but it wasn't the same as feeling it in my mouth. The memory was about to become real once more.

"Ivy," she almost moaned looking up at me. "Am I your Scion?"

I froze.

"No," I whispered and took a step back. Rachel nearly slid down the wall, her knees weak from the pheromones. I felt suddenly cold and then hot as fear, relief and shame washed over me in rapid succession.

What I had been about to do hit me full on.

I had been about to bite Rachel, knowing full well _My_ Rachel wouldn't let me. _Never again_ she had said. I had thought I could get away with it, somewhere in the darkest corners of my mind. I had been thinking about the possibility ever since last night and just now she had been pushing all my buttons. It wasn't fair. But I thought I was better. Thought I was getting better. Thought the monster inside of me was growing smaller. It clearly wasn't since I had been about to blood-rape my best friend.

"Then what? I don't understand," she took a shaking breath. "I'm not your Shadow right? I mean if I was then I couldn't be your business partner or friend?" she was looking like a lost little puppy and I wanted to hug her, but I didn't deserve to be anywhere near her. And I couldn't because then the monster would really come out. Then I wanted to run but I couldn't do that either. This Rachel wouldn't understand. Wouldn't realize I was running away to keep her safe.

Safe from me.

"It's complicated. We're… friends?" the word somehow sounded totally inadequate. "We're partners. " I shrugged and Rachel looked down at the floor.

"I thought this would be fun, you know? I even started a letter to myself, sort of a comment on my life from a blank perspective or something. But all I have are questions I probably already know the answer to, like _why is my mom kind of crazy _and _why do you seem so sad? _What's the point of all this. I can't figure out anything and I can't do anything to help anyone. God, this is confusing," and with that she left me in the hallway with only my guilt and our mixed scents.

"We should use it," I said as I walked into the kitchen a minute later, meaning the ice cream machine Rachel was busy putting away.

"We should," she said closing the cupboard. "But the real me and you. She, I, I mean the real me knows why you don't like it right?" she looked a little bit bothered as if worried she – the other she – didn't know.

"Yes," I forced a smile careful not to show any teeth. Rachel seemed blissfully unaware of just how closer I had come to biting her just a minute ago. Or maybe she knew but didn't understand the significance of it. She at least must have figured out something had gone wrong, perhaps even that it was something she had partly caused, but she wasn't pushing. That was very unlike My Rachel.

"That's good. Sharing stuff," she said with a smile. "I know because it said so on the OJ cartoon."

I shrugged and sat down by my computer. Rachel was bending down to check the cookies in the oven. I was snapped out of admiring her twisting body when my cell phone rang. "Ivy Tamwood," I answered curtly.

"_Stone, thirty minutes. By them stage,"_ a growly voice told me before hanging up. I looked at the number; not my source's but that hardly meant anything. People working in Cincinnati's underworld usually changed their digits frequently. Only my other source had never called, but had always used text messages. And his voice wasn't that growly. Not that it really mattered that it was someone other than my normal source, if he had something on Lucy for me.

I grabbed my leather duster making sure the envelope of cash was still in my pocket. Rachel pulled out the cookies and turned the oven off and then followed me down the hallway and into the sanctuary towards the door.

"I have to go out. I have a case," I told her slightly bothered. Being away from her and the church that smelled of us seemed like a good idea. She was all up in my space and didn't even seem to realize how much it was affecting me.

"I'm coming with you," she said stubbornly reaching for her jacket.

"No, you're not," I told her firmly putting my hands on my hips.

"I can't stay here and make cookies all week Ivy," she pouted. "Besides if you don't let me come I swear I'll go out and get into trouble." The argument sounded kind of like that of a five year old but I knew that if I didn't let her come she would go out and try her best to find something interesting to do. At least if she was anything like My Rachel. And if she was, trouble would find her as sure as an undead vampire would burn in the sun.

"Go and get your splat gun," I sighed not having the energy or time for argument. I had shown her where it was yesterday – in case of emergency. Rachel smiled triumphantly and headed for the kitchen.

"Jenks get over here," I said loudly to the rafters where I was sure the pixie was hiding. "I know you were eavesdropping."

"You're bringing the flop on a run?" Jenks said as he flew around me laughing. "You're going to have more trouble with her than the Take we're looking for."

"We're not looking for anyone. We're meeting a source. But the place doesn't have an MPL and it's mostly a vamp hang out. I don't want anything going wrong so I need you to come," I told the pixie. It was true we'd be safer with him around but mostly I wanted a baby sitter.

"But Ivy…" the pixie complained in an ear splitting tone. "It's so cold outside."

"Don't worry, we'll be taking the car," I told him as Rachel walked back into the sanctuary.

"We're not going on the bike?" She asked sounding disappointed and then began to toy with the controls on the splat gun. Probably not something she was supposed to mess with, My Rachel would be pissed if she messed up her own splat gun.

"No the bike stays home. Now button up," I told her pointing to her open coat."We need to get going."

"Alright," Rachel muttered. "I better get to shoot someone since I'm dragging this thing along." I shook my head pretending not to hear. Rachel buttoned her coat up and then reached for the door but I caught her sleeve before she could open it.

"Before we leave we need some rules." I held up a finger. "One; Let me do the talking. If you have to say something make it sound convincing. You are Rachel Morgan –independent runner. A witch with extraordinary powers. Afraid of nothing." I held up a second finger "Two; stay close to me at all times. You can't make a circle so if something goes bad you'll need me." I held up a third finger. "Keep your gun ready and listen to me. If I tell you to run, you run. If I tell you to shoot, you shoot."

"Got it," she said rolling her eyes and holding up the splat gun looking very much like _My_ Rachel. "Shut up and act bad ass."

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><p>Thanks for RxR! You should all be real happy this chapter even exists because more than half of it disappeared out into nothingness when my computer decided it didn't want to play anymore. Also on Ivy's instincts – the way I wrote it here is kind of how I see her mind when she gets all vampy - hope you didn't get too freaked out.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4

**Part**: 4 of 10

**A/N**: Thanks for all the reviews! I really love them and think they are really important because A) the feedback I get from your reviews are the only feedback I get B) I love reviews and you know...being appreciated! It takes a long time to write this stuff and knowing someone likes it just makes my day. They're like early Christmas and a foot bath rolled into one. Most of the time. And when they're not nice… well you can't please everyone!

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><p><strong>Four<strong>

"This place seems fun," Rachel screamed at me as we walked towards the stage at _Stone_. The club had just opened and it was a Monday but there were still quite a few people dancing to loud hip hop music as the band set up.

"Bloody fantastic," I said feeling grumpy. Rachel had linked our arms together and her scent was everywhere. I was real glad the club was half in darkness because else I was sure Rachel would have been freaked out by my nearly black pupils. Because I was sure they were – being trapped in a car with her for fifteen minutes hadn't exactly done wonders for my vampiric instincts.

Two guys – one a living vamp and the other a ghoul danced up to us – making me think of chimpanzees or perhaps cave men looking for mates. I tugged Rachel along suddenly a little thankful we were joined together.

"But Ivy," she whimpered and threw a look back at the living vampire. I gave him a once over. He was cute enough but too skinny and ordinary looking for my taste. The vamp had taken our looking back at him as an invitation (or maybe it was Rachel suddenly placing her hand on the scar on her neck) and was taking quick steps towards us. He stopped next to Rachel and she smiled. I quickly grabbed the hand the vampire was moving forward – either to introduce himself or pull Rachel away with him.

He looked at me as if he hadn't really noticed me before, which wasn't surprising since next to Rachel's beautiful skin and red curly hair my slightly oriental look and simple black braid was almost boring. I squeezed his hand harder and Rachel looked surprised and confused but took her hand off her neck. Thank god for small favors.

"If you touch her blood you die," I said still holding the other vampires wrist in a vice like grip. "In fact if you touch her in anyway I don't like, you die," I promised and in a flash the other vampire seemed to realize who I was and went pale. I smiled and Rachel frowned.

"You big stupid lunker," Jenks said suddenly appearing in the air between me and the other vampire. "Don't you know better than to touch Tamwood's witch. You need a lesson in manners," the tiny man said and pulled out his sword. I did _so_ not have time for this…

"Not now Jenks. I think that's my source," I said pointing to a guy standing by the stairs that led to the stage. The area was so dark not even my vampire vision could penetrate it from this far away but I was sure someone was standing there. I couldn't see him but I could sense him. "Go and check him out," I ordered the pixie.

"Fine," Jenks put his sword away. "You better thanks Tink's tiny tittles for this," he added to the frightened vampire. As soon as I let go of the vamp's hand he sprang ten steps back and then went back to join his friend trying not to act embarrassed.

"What you do that for? Can't I have some fun?" Rachel asked, her cheeks going red. "I mean, just because you seem to _like_ being unhappy doesn't mean I can't have a good time. You're not the boss of me," she said stubbornly pulling away from me.

"Didn't you hear me before? The only reason I let you come is because you said you'd behave," I said putting my hands on my hips.

"I only said I'd shut up and act tough. Not follow your rules," she hissed. My eyes seemed unable to focus and I wasn't really hearing what she was saying because the vein in her neck had begun to throb fast under her thin skin making me think of just how easy it would be to take her. How easy it would be to drain it all. All that blood pumping away - I wanted it so bad.

I truly was a _monster_.

Swallowing I tried to focus and be gentle but I was angry at both her and my own stupid instincts. "This place doesn't have an MPL so if you want to get bit and end up someone's shadow - go ahead," I swept my arm out towards the people dancing to the left of us.

Rachel seemed to debate with herself for a moment. I knew _My_ Rachel would have gone, simply to piss me off. But she knew how to take care of herself -this Rachel didn't. "Fine," she grumbled. "Where is this guy we're meeting?"

"He's over there. A were if I'm not mistaken. You really think he got information about your missing vamp?" Jenks said before he landed on Rachel's shoulder his wings blurring and giving off orange dust.

"Let's go and find out," I said with sarcastic cheeriness. Rachel threw a last glance over at the guy she had wanted to dance with and followed me towards the dark corner.

"You them ones paying for information?" the growly voice I recognized from the phone asked. He wasn't my source even though I had known that since he called. Still sometimes word got around and my source wouldn't have given my number to just anyone. I paid too well for him to risk it.

"Depends on the information," I said, putting my arm out for Rachel to stay behind me.

"I got them good stuff. About them girls going missing, I was told you were them ones to talk to," the were said in a rush that even though his voice was calm betrayed his nervousness.

_Girls_? As in plural? Could several girls go missing in Cincinnati without anyone noticing? If it was going on, I was putting a stop to it. And I was kicking some ass on the way. I pulled out the envelope pulling out a thick wad of hundred dollar bills.

"Keep talking," I said pretending to count the small fortune. I heard Rachel's breathing pick up speed and the were seemed to relax a little bit once he had seen the money.

"Out by them old warehouses and factories to them north." He licked his lips. I still couldn't see him clearly in the dark but I could hear him well enough. "There are gray trucks leaving by a different route every three days. Word on them street is that lots of runaways have gone missing. People that ain't to be missed."

"Do you actually know any of this is true, or is it just rumors?" I asked suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know about them people going missing, but I know about them vans. I work guard out by where them industrial roads meet highway. They come my way once a week or so but we talk… I talk with them other guarding. They say them same thing. Gray vans. Every few days," the were said in his rough voice and I had to really concentrate to understand him. He was abusing the English language to the point where I wanted to cover my ears.

"That's a lot of space to search. Hundreds of square feet. Even staking it out would take too long." I pulled out more of the cash. "I need something better..."

"There is a logo on them vans," the were eagerly offered. "Green, like a tree. Quite big. On them van's side." I rolled the money up in a tight bundle.

"Anything else that can help us?"

"If them use them same routine, them will be driving me way day past tomorrow, around the middle of night, rout 32," he said as his hands stretched out for the money. Satisfied he had given all the information he was going to I smiled a tight lipped smile and handed it to him. The were moved off into the shadows towards the emergency exit a second later.

"That was a lot of money Ivy," Rachel commented as we walked out of the club. She had been quiet for nearly five whole _freaking_ minutes and I was beginning to worry what was on her mind. "We could have just told him we'd curse him or something. I'm sure he would have talked."

"He might, he might not have, and this way we didn't make an enemy and if he has information in the future he will be more inclined to help us," I said while unlocking Rachel's red car.

"But all that money," Rachel said looking at me across the roof of the car. "That was a lot of money, I'm sure of it. I remember how much money is worth," she added the last part with a stubborn expression on her face.

"Relax," I said as I slid into the car and rolled my eyes. "I got plenty of it so what if I use it to keep my sources coming back to me. It's better than threatening to curse them. God Rachel it's just money." She closed her door.

"It's not just money, it's…" Rachel seemed confused and I was too. Truth to be told I didn't understand why she even cared about money when she was _My_ Rachel but now that she didn't remember anything, me handing money to strangers shouldn't bother her at all.

"Do you remember something?" I asked as Jenks flew out of Rachel's scarf, turning to her as she pushed some hair away from her face.

"Turn the heat on, it's freezing in here," the pixie complained and I started the car and turn the hot air on.

"I don't know if I'd call it remembering," she said scrunching up her face. "More like I just got the feeling we had this argument before."

"Off and on. You want it all to be fair and hate it when I try to pay your rent or buy things when we need them, just because I can afford them," I said as I put the car in drive feeling surprisingly open. It wasn't like she was going to remember this conversation in a week. It was really quite freeing. "You always insist on paying me back, even though it takes you forever."

"So I'm poor?" Rachel asked suddenly looking very amused.

"As a rock," Jenks said helpfully.

"My life sounds so wonderful. Gosh I bet the twenty dollars I found in my wallet is the only money I have," she said in a disbelieving tone. I on the other hand had no trouble believing the twenty was the last money Rachel had.

"Don't worry," I said and patted her leg, surprising myself by touching her first when usually I made sure not to. For both of our safety. "I won't let you starve. Remember? I'm the one that buys the groceries."

"Oh my God," she suddenly said as if she had suddenly had an epiphany. "You love me."

I blinked, hit the break and turned to her in surprise. Her mouth was slightly open and Jenks snickered from the dashboard. I wondered where the hell that realization had come from.

"You do, don't you?" She asked again.

What was I suppose to say? It didn't feel right to lie and tell her no. But I wasn't sure how well she would handle a vampire in love with her. But she had only said love, not _in_ love. To care deeply for a friend was alright, wasn't it?

"Yes," I drove through a red light seeing as there was no traffic.

"That makes it all make sense," she said as she leaned back to look at me. "Makes it all come together," she whispered so low I was sure she didn't mean for me to hear it.

It was much later, long after I had given up looking for grey vans with green tree logos on the net. So late, the sun would be coming up in just a few short hours. I thought Rachel had been asleep for ages when she came tip toeing into the living room, seating herself in the plush armchair across from me. Looking up at her over my coffee cup I thought she looked flushed. Like she might have a fever. A sudden worry spiked through me. I hadn't let myself think about what would happen when the memory potion left Rachel's system. _Unpredictable_ was what she had said and that was never good. Was this a symptom? Was she sick? I sat up straighter on the couch looking closer at her.

"It must be hard," she whispered peering at me with those almost too green to be real eyes. I didn't say anything but put my coffee down feeling wary. "Living here with me. Wanting me but not being able to have me. Because that's what I figured out. You want to touch me…" she got off the chair and moved next to me on the couch. "But you keep stopping yourself. Is it me or you that make you do that?" she asked tilting her head.

"Me," I whispered as I felt the smell of Rachel and power, envelop me. She was too close.

"So I'm a test? You deny yourself something because it makes you feel better? Feeling in control," she analyzed. "But why don't I want you?"

"I don't know," I said inching away from her, trying not to breathe. "You don't like girls that way." That was almost a lie, at least when I said it. I knew Rachel fear of being gay or even bi was more real than what she might or might not feel for me. It's too hard to stay in love with someone who isn't into you to keep it up for long. And I had managed to stay in love with Rachel for years. Every now and again I would see a glimpse in her eye that told me she had just been thinking of me in ways she didn't think she should. I was sure she didn't realize it herself, but _I_ did. She wanted me even if she couldn't accept it. It would have been comical if it wasn't so damned frustrating.

"I don't?" Rachel asked with a little smug smile as if she knew what I was musing about."Then why can't I stop thinking about you? Why do I like to look at you? Why do I live in a church with a vampire that I know wants me if I don't want her too?"

"Perhaps we are more alike than you think. Perhaps you too like to deny yourself things," I said defensively, wanting to move off the couch and leave the room. But I was worried she would follow and that might cause even more problems.

"Maybe," she kept the little smile going and moved closer to me. "Or maybe I'm afraid. But we could both have what we want tonight. I won't remember anything of this week; I could have what Rachel clearly wants but somehow is not taking. You could have what you want the most without her knowing." She moved so close I could feel her knee touching mine. "You could have _me_. Just for tonight. Just a taste."

"No," I said afraid of both how much I wanted that and the consequences if I gave in. If _My_ Rachel realized I had taken advantage of her, even if it was Rachel seducing me and not the other way around, she would leave. She would never trust me again. I craved her trust more than I craved her blood. More than I wanted her body and soul.

"You could have it all," she whispered. Leaning closer she brushed the hair away from her neck exposing the scar there. "My body, my blood. My heart." She reached for my hand.

"No," I managed to get out, as I almost threw myself away from her to the other side of the room. Rachel blinked and stiffened on the couch, clearly surprised at how quick I had moved.

"Ivy," she said in a voice I had never heard _My_ Rachel use. It was almost patronizing. But I wasn't sticking around to hear what she was saying. I rushed to my bedroom, feeling very much like a child that had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Only the cookie jar had been freaking throwing herself at me.

"Ivy wait, I didn't mean…" Rachel cried out hurrying after me but I slammed my door shut. I could still hear her from the outside as I leaned against the door. "I didn't mean to make you upset, I just thought it was a good idea. I'm sorry,"

But Rachel's other words were still ringing in my ears. Tempting me, making me regret and wonder. I slid down the door to the floor and in my mind saw her brushing her lovely red hair away from her neck.

_You could have it all. My body, my blood, my heart._

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><p>Thanks for reading and reviewing! Hope you didn't think I over did creepy growly were guy. I just wrote <em>Them <em>instead of _the_ once and went like "hey that could be kind of neat" but now I kind of think I went overboard with it. Also hope you didn't think I went too far with having Rache trying to get into Ivy's pants!


	5. Chapter 5

**Part**: 5 of 10 (half way -YAY)

**A/N**: Someone is eating all my socks. It's true – either they eat the whole sock or just make a tiny hole somewhere so I have to throw the sock away anyways. It's horrible. I blame the fairies. It's always _them_. Or maybe the gnomes. Also adorable puppies.

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><p><strong>Five<strong>

It was two days later and I was beginning to wonder if Rachel would ever get her memory back. Or if I would ever get a clue on what kind of company had green trees on their vans.

"What about the rentals?" Rachel asked for the seventh hundred time as she leaned back from the freezer pulling out the fish I knew _My_ Rachel had intended to cook for us before her memory disappeared.

"Put that back," I told her a little rougher than I had intended. Rachel blushed, something that she had spent the majority of the past two days doing and put the fish back. It was strange to see her as the blushing embarrassed one. She had thought she had completely failed in her seduction act and was feeling stupid about it. While I hadn't exactly acted like a blushing teenager those first days in the church after my own failed instinct triggered seduction attempt, I still remembered the mixed feeling of stupidity and embarrassment. At least I had my instincts to blame, both then and now. But what Rachel didn't know was that I had been seconds away from taking everything she had offered.

"Sorry," she said not looking at me and patting the fish she had put back in the freezer.

I frowned, going back to her earlier question. "I told you, there are five different rental firms that have grey vans. I called all of them and four of them said they didn't have any green logos especially not with trees on theirs. The fifth haven't answered either the phone or e-mails I've sent."

"So they should be it, we should go there and look around," she suggested enthusiastically clearly eager to get out of the church.

"Yeah, or we wait a few hours until sunset and go out to the old factories and hope we get lucky and see something," I said clicking down the browser.

"Yeah," Rachel said looking bright eyed, "that's a good plan."

I gripped the table, hard. _No_ it was _not_ a good plan. In fact it was a bad one. It really wasn't even a plan. To My (and apparently this) Rachel, it might be a plan but to me it wasn't. I might call it recon. Yeah we were just doing recon. Nothing too dangerous. Just recon.

A good thought perhaps, but with Rachel along I should have known it wasn't going to be that simple. We'd driven into the old factory and warehouse district on route 32 not wanting to chance the creeps we were looking for, accidentally driving out while we were driving in from somewhere else. The place reminded me of mine and Rachel's first case together. We'd been looking for a kidnapped girl in an abandoned tomato cannery. But that was all the way across town, this was another area, much less used. Not that the cannery probably got that many visitors, but this area was large and completely deserted. Like a ghost town.

"What now?" Rachel asked, clutching her splat gun. She looked ill at ease and I didn't blame her. This place was giving _me_ the creeps.

"This place is pretty big, so I thought I'd drop you off at the turn off to route 32 and you can wait for them there – I'll drive around and look. You can call me if they show up," I glanced at her as I suggested, gauge her reaction. She had gone a little pale so I guessed she didn't like the thought of being left alone in this place.

"Or we could both wait for them in the car, its cold out," Rachel complained, looking worried. I nodded at her suggestion. It wasn't much that could hurt me, but this place was spooky even for a vampire.

"I'll park and look around; you can wait in the car. That alright?" I asked, finding a half destroyed building I guessed had been a maintenance building of some sort and turned towards it to park the car. Rachel nodded eagerly clearly liking my plan. She was staying in the nice warm safe car.

Exactly where I wanted her.

I hadn't gotten more than three blocks away from the car when I heard hushed voices. Lots of voices – some clearly scared and female and others a little louder, male and angry.

"We can't wait, we got a dead-line," a rough voice said loudly. I moved closer, finding a cracked window where sound carried through a little better.

"They like our product; they aren't going to cut us out if we deliver a little late," a voice belonging to a young man argued.

"Better late than too few right?" another man interjected.

"Ralph says we have to- Boss," the first goon said and a I heard a door open inside the room.

"What's this chattering about? Are you old ladies at the market? We have product to move. Get on with it," the man who I guessed was Ralph the boss ordered.

"Hey Ivy," Rachel called from somewhere behind me in the dark. _Shit_.

The people inside the factory suddenly became very quiet and still. So still I could hear them breathing – at least three of them – one was probably an undead. Ralph- I guessed. Rachel rushed up to me, breathing fast.

"I saw a grey van, driving in, but it came from the east," she whispered excitedly clearly not realizing she had just given our position away to the vamps in the factory.

"Get rid of them," the voice I recognized as Ralph's, said in a hushed voice, almost so low I didn't hear it over Rachel's breathing. The quiet was suddenly replaced with calls and at least one safety being turned off a gun. "And get Bane get in that van now, I want those girls out of Cinci before the sun comes up."

"Run," I told Rachel quickly and grabbed a hold of her arm. I wasn't sure I could protect her from all of them. There was at least three living vampires and one undead. I hadn't recognized neither their names, voices nor the sent from around the warehouse so I guessed they weren't Cinci vamps. They were from somewhere else, poaching. They wouldn't care that I was from an old Cinci family or a favorite of Rynn's. Without Rachel being able to set a circle our best plan was to run. So we did, Rachel confused at first but as we heard doors open and people running after us she figured it out and ran a little faster for it.

Still she wasn't fast enough.

"Run," I told her again and spun back around. "Get the car, I'll keep them busy." I heard her steps slow momentarily. "Go. Now," I urged and she began to run again.

There were four living vampires and Ralph – the undead one – heading my way. Two of them had guns. The fastest one was skinny and pale looking – an easy target. A second later he reached me and I struck him in the side but he moved faster than I had expected and the blow didn't take him down. Instead he stumbled slightly but then rushed past me. I wanted to run after him but the two vampires with guns were now within range of me. They looked uncertain, they probably weren't use to girls fighting back, and moved a few steps closer.

"Go with Ian. Bring the redhead back," the undead vampire said. He waited some ways off, clearly not wanting to get his hands dirty. "Try not to bruise her up too much, you know Mark doesn't like that." At his leaders command the fourth living vampire moved around the two vampires with guns that were surrounding me, to follow Rachel. I knew my best chance was now – with only two vamps around me, but they both had guns pointed at me. And even if I took them out the black eyed undead Ralph was only twenty feet away. I swallowed and heard a van's engine rev._ Damn it_, I could clearly see one of the gray vans with the green tree leaving the factory, driving way too fast.

"What you think boss?" one of them asked looking back at the undead vampire. I moved a step to the right so I was in a better position to duck a bullet from the left and kick the man to my right. "You think she'll be missed?"

"Oh yes. This lovely girl is Ivy Tamwood, am I right?" the undead vampire asked and took a step forward. I shifted and narrowed my eyes. At least they weren't shooting me. _Yet_. "I _am_ right," Ralph said in delight. I didn't reply but that didn't seem to trouble him. I felt a rush of vampire pheromones kick out from the dead vamp as he walked closer to me.

"What now boss?" the younger of the two living vampires wondered, looking nervous.

"Play with her a bit boys, then dump her in the river," Ralph said and the younger vampire looked even more anxious but the other one put his gun. _Mistake_."But go slow, I want to watch," he added.

Just then as Ralph smiled smugly, I kicked out at the younger vamp, forcing the gun out of his hands and off into the dark. He yelped and looked shocked while the other living vampire dived for me. He had slime hair that made me think of some fifties movie star. But he didn't fight like a movie star. He fought fast and dirty and landed at least as many blows as I did. But he wasn't getting tired and was moving with the grace and fluency that I had - back when I had been Piscary's scion. _Shit_, this was not good. He was someone's scion. A powerful someone. I only had myself to rely on.

I heard people walking– only two of them– but I could tell by the weight of their boots and sound of their breathing that one of them was Rachel. The relief I felt nearly made me forget to duck. At the last moment I moved to the right as Slime hair sent his fist flying my way. _Boy, he was fast_.

"Stand still or I'll shoot. I'll shoot all of you," Rachel said in what might have been a confident way if her hands hadn't been shaking so badly. I wanted to be angry at her for coming back but I was thankful too. I had been about to get my ass kicked, Slime hair was out of my league. Ten feet in front of her marched the vampire the leader had sent after her, his nose bloody. I managed a smile and wondered what had happened to the first one. I hoped he was taking a nice long magic induced nap.

"Who's the dud?" one of the living vamps – Slime hair I guessed- from behind Ralph asked. They had all moved so the undead vampire was in front of them. He at least knew not to underestimate Rachel."She's not a vamp."

"Don't you know?" the younger one to the left said. I noticed he had an official looking name tag that said Mike. Maybe was a waiter on his off days?"She's Tamwood's _pet witch_," he spat the last part out with clear contempt.

"I thought she'd be a lot more kick ass," the third one with the broken nose said touching his hand trying to look like he wasn't in pain at all. The hand had a large red bite from a human's - most likely Rachel's - teeth. More kick ass than Rachel huh? To be any more kick ass she would have to bite his whole hand off.

Rachel's broken nose guy began to move to stand behind his leader and Ralph turned to stare at me with gleaming black eyes. I wished Rachel hadn't let her hostage go, but I somehow doubted Ralph cared that much for his goons. Still, she could have used him as a body shield if things got nasty and bullets started flying.

"I'd do what she says, those curses are pretty nasty," I lied, glancing to Rachel and moving towards her. I was fairly certain there were only sleepy charms in the gun but I didn't want them to think so. I wanted them to believe one hit would kill them good.

"I was told to watch out for you," the undead vampire whispered as he came closer. "They say you are a real crusader when it comes to little girls getting hurt." That seemed to amuse him because a wide smile spread across his face. "Put a bullet in Tamwood for me, would you Kim? I think I'll play with her little witch friend for a while."

Maybe he wasn't as smart as I had thought. As long as Rachel's aim was half as accurate as usual she'd probably hit Ralph long before he got close enough to touch her, even if he was an undead. Besides I was nearly between them. Slime hair pulled out the gun he had put away earlier; looking a little disappointed, probably because he wasn't going to be allowed to kill me with his bare hands. I swallowed, I wasn't sure if I was fast enough to duck a bullet from a vampire that could draw upon a master's strength.

"Ivy," Rachel cried and stepped forward to stand next to me. She took the gun off Ralph and pointed it on Slime hair Kim. Then she pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

The gun had jammed. Could splat guns jam? I felt my heart sink thinking of Rachel pushing those buttons the other day before leaving the church. Right then Slime hair pulled the trigger on his gun and I dived out of the way. I guessed he missed because I didn't feel the searing pain I knew gunshot wounds brought along with them.

"Dam it, can't you aim properly," the bloody nose guy said, pulling the gun from Slime hair. The few seconds of wrestling for the gun gave me just enough time to reach them and in one quick strike break Slime hair's hand. He screamed and let go of the gun. Bloody nose that was still tugging for the gun stumbled back and I punched him in the gut making him fall over and grunt the gun ten feet away. I took a step towards the weapon.

Then Rachel screamed.

I like to think I'm neither stupid nor crazy …most of the time…unless it has to do with Rachel. And watching an undead vampire sink his teeth into _my witch_ pushed all my buttons making common sense seem of very little importance. It didn't seem to matter that he was undead, stronger and had guys to back him up. I was _going_ to kill him. No one touched Rachel's blood. Except for me.

Only Slime hair and skinny name-tag guy were on their feet and between me and Rachel. Between me and Ralph. Ralph who was going to die his final death tonight.

The blow from behind came as a surprise and I fell. I guessed Rachel's nosebleed guy had recovered from the punch I'd thrown at him. I tried to roll, knowing that if I stayed on the ground where they could kick me with those heavy boots I was done for. Slime hair seemed to have realized what I was doing and moved in front of me before I could stand. I saw the kick to my face coming but he was too fast for me to totally duck out of the way and I felt the toe of his boot hit my cheek.

The impact made my head snap back and I tumbled backwards with it. I had to roll to get away from the next blow Slime hair was about to land on me and I thumbed into a pair of boots. Someone kicked me in the ribs and then someone stepped on my arm but I managed to get away before the bone broke and rolled on to my back. I glanced up at the stars for a second and felt totally calm. A boot kicked me and I realized I wasn't defending myself any more. I was just trying to get away. Piscary would have laughed at me. I tried to focus on something, anything.

The little name tag the young guy wore as he kicked me. It said Mike. I had accidentally drained a guy name Mike on my fifteenth birthday, maybe this was payback. Looking close I couldn't help but to notice the little sushi rolls that decorated the name tag. I knew where the waitstaff wore those. Stub's sushi. At the mall. It somehow didn't seem to make sense and I thought perhaps I was losing consciousness and starting to hallucinate. Not that it really mattered. I felt someone tug at my shoulder then the sound of a joint popping out of its socket. It didn't hurt that bad. I would just embrace the pain. Like I would embrace death, for when I woke, I'd be able to kill these men who were hurting people. Who were hurting Rachel. _My_ Rachel, whether she remembered it or not. I would save her and then I would walk the sun. I wasn't going to become one of the monsters I had feared all my life. Someone Rachel feared. I wasn't going to let myself. I would be strong. I would reunite my soul with my body, let the sun take me.

"Now little Tamwood," Ralph said suddenly jerking me back to reality. I looked up at him from the pavement as he let go of Rachel and she sank to her knees. She didn't look dead, which was good, but she had lost plenty of blood. And more was coming out of the two fairly neat bites on her neck. "You're pretty little which is bound to me now," he said smiling and I felt anger like I had never imagined I could. Felt like the anger in my eyes alone should be enough to end him. But it wasn't and my body wasn't as strong as my will. "I think I'll ask her to kill you. It will be poetic won't it?" Ralph took a few steps towards me and the vampire tugging at my dislocated shoulder let go and stepped back. Strangely enough that made my shoulder hurt a lot more than when he had been pulling it and I cried out.

"You are going..." I managed when I could speak again as I watched Rachel touch her hand to her neck and then pulled back to look at the blood, "…die."I spit out blood, glad it wasn't teeth. Ralph squatted down next to me.

"I imagine you think so, but who do you think will find you out here? You'll fry when the sun comes up my lovely. Too bad really, I've heard spectacular things about you," Ralph touched my cheek and I tried to bite his hand, but he just smiled. I cursed myself. I should have worn the bracelet – the one that measured pulse and made sure an ambulance was there minutes after a living vampire's death. There were lots of things I should have done. I really wished I hadn't turned Rachel's offer down the other night. Now I would die never knowing what being with her was like. I'd die never knowing just what we might have had.

"Boss-"

"Rachel, come here," Ralph said in a soothing voice as I closed my eyes not wanting to see any more. Not wanting to see Rachel do this monster's will. This was my fault; I had let her come when she couldn't protect herself. It was all on me. I was supposed to have kept her safe from this.

"Boss-"

The sound of the splat gun going off half a dozen times, made me look up. Ralph had moved with shocking speed even to my vampire's senses and was standing two feet from Rachel. Around me lay the three living vampires – all dead looking – even though I knew they had only been hit by a sleeping potion. I felt the world spin slightly as I tried to move an inch.

After a second I came to the conclusion I was probably hallucinating.

"Stop it. I bound you, you do what I tell you," Ralph yelled at Rachel as if he just told her, _just_ convinced her, she would stop. I felt confused to why she wasn't bound to him, but supposed it was part of the hallucination.

"I guess I'm just not built that way. No go to sleep," Rachel said as she pulled the trigger of the splat gun, sending the ball full of potion straight into the still confused undead vampire's face.

"Ivy, my god," she said as she hurried to me. I was really confused, nothing made sense. "Are you alright?"

"All good," I croaked feeling like I'd just been run over by a truck. Still, either I had fallen into a coma or something very strange had happened here tonight. Something that needed to be kept quiet. Rachel hadn't been bound. It was something I hadn't ever heard of, once a vampire bound you there was very little you could do. Except move across the country. I wished I had enough strength to twist Ralph's stupid neck but I barely managed to get to my feet even with Rachel helping me. I'd call Rynn as soon as we got back to the church. He'd take care of it.

"I guess it was a good thing we didn't take the bike, ey?" she said trying to keep the worry out of her tone as she pressed on hand to her bleeding neck and used the other one to keep me upright.

"Yeah. Riding a bike with a dislocated shoulder wouldn't have been fun," I managed in a weak voice. Then I passed out.

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><p>Thanks for RxR! Hope you didn't get confused with all the bad guys also I kind of suck at writing fight scenes so sorry if some of it was weird!<p> 


	6. Chapter 6

**Part**: 6 of 10

**A/N:** Three reviews on the last chapter? Seriously, guys come on! Or am I supposed to take that all the rest of you hated the last chapter?

**A/N 2: **I feel like I'm not doing Jenks justice but he's hard to write – maybe it's because I'm no good at fairy fart and Tink's titties swearing or because he's so difficult to figure out. Or maybe it's just because I love him so much I can't write him. But I love Rachel and Ivy and I feel kind of okay with writing them :D

**A/N 3**: My chapters always seem to get longer as the story gets longer :P but I'm trying to post more even chapters, so this one is a little shorter than the previous one.

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><p><strong>Six<strong>

"Stop fussing. I'm fine," I told Rachel as she tried to dab at the cut on my cheek for the hundredth time and I turned my head into the soft couch. She'd cleaned it _twice_ and that was more than enough.

"I still think you should have let me take you to the hospital," she grumbled and took the alcoholic smelling cotton ball away from me. Jenks watched me from the side table with a worried expression.

"All I needed was some sleep," I waved her away and tried to sit up. My rips were still sore and my shoulder was a lovely shade of purple even twelve hours after the attack, but I suspected if I hadn't been a vampire I'd be in the ICU.

"You could have a concussion; I looked it up on your computer. You're a bad injured person," I smiled at that because compared to her I was a walk in the park. I remembered her panic at being in the hospital after the banshee attack. God, she had wanted out of there so badly. "I should just have looked up the directions and driven you to the hospital when I figured out where it was," Rachel continued more to herself than me. I experimentally tried to stretch my sore shoulder.

"I'm just glad you apparently remember how to drive," I smiled and feeling good stood up. Only to cry out in pain and fall back on the couch. Which caused another wave of pain. Not good. I was such a _fucking_ weakling.

"Do you want me to call Rynn again?" Rachel nervously asked. I had called him as soon as I woke up – about two hours ago- but I still hadn't heard back from him. He'd said he was sending people out to look; he of course couldn't go along since it was now early afternoon and very sunny for February. "I can get you another brimstone cookie or some more pizza-" she began to ramble.

"Relax Rachel, I told you. I'm fine. But if you really want to help, could you get me my computer?" Rachel looked relieved that she could do _something_ and quickly got up from the couch to head to the kitchen. "And have another cookie yourself, you look pale," I called after her, feeling sick I had let someone bite her. It had been my fault no matter how many times she said it wasn't.

"You know this is your own fault for not taking me along. Stupid lunker. Going out and almost getting yourselves killed," Jenks flew up in front of me his wings humming and his sword out in the air. "I could have taken them all, purple farts Ivy. You scared the crap out of me," he said the last part a little bit calmer. "And her as well, she was in a panic when she got back to the church and you weren't making sense at all, mumbling and crying."

"I'll be fine in a while Jenks, so shut up. You're giving me a head ache." He really was or maybe that was from being slammed into the pavement or kicked in the face. _No_, I decided, it was Jenks.

"You know this is really interesting – Rachel without her memories." He smirked and put his sword away. "It's weird how she tried to get in your pants the other night, isn't it?" I felt my eyes go wide. He had spied on us? I really shouldn't have been surprised."I mean it took her what? Two days?"

"Jenks," I spluttered. "You stay out of it."

"Funny how you got to be the one to say no," Jenks dove out of my reach as I tried to grab for him only to be abruptly brought back to earth by the stabbing pain in my shoulder. "_You could have me all Ivy. Eat me up_!" Jenks teased from the ceiling. "Man it must have killed you to have to turn that down. I'm impressed you did, I was ready with my sword to poke you the whole time."

"Shut up," I growled at the bug as Rachel came into the room carrying my laptop. I quickly wiped the sour look off my face and she didn't seem to realize she'd interrupted me and Jenks arguing.

"I've been thinking – maybe I can spell something to make you better? I mean how hard can it be? I have the books, right?"she said as she put the laptop into my lap.

"That's okay," I said looking at bandaged neck. I would be happier if she spelled her own injury away since I had no idea how I was going to explain to _My_ Rachel I'd let another vampire bite her. Not just bite, but bind her. Only it hadn't worked. I suspected it had something to do with the memory potion. Rachel's cells might have simply forgotten to be bound or something else to do with magic. I hadn't told anyone what had happened, not Rynn and not Rachel, who didn't seem to realize just how strange it was she hadn't just done what good old Ralph had told her.

"Do you want me to call someone?" she asked carefully sitting next to me on the couch. I blinked at her, not sure who I'd want to call. Maybe Erica? "Maybe you're mom? Or someone, you know, _special. _It can't be very fun to just hang around here with me, I'm not even me..." she trailed of and blushed a lovely shade of crimson and looked away.

"I don't think my mother will be to happy with me once she hears what happened." And she would hear about it from Rynn and even though I had tried to make myself sound less like a failure on the phone, I was still an embarrassment. And it wasn't even the first time Rachel had saved me. I smiled, to have to be saved by a witch, it was a thing most vampires would die of shame from. Good thing I wasn't most vampires. But my mother would not be pleased. "She'd probably rather I'd died and joined her as an undead."

"Won't she be a happy you saved me?" she asked looking up.

"My mother would laugh at me for doing half the things I do for you Rachel, and she'd probably kill me for the other half, I doubt she'll be happy I saved your life," I said sounding more bitter than I meant to. Rachel looked uncomfortable at hearing that and looked at her nails. The ghastly red she had painted nearly a week ago before joining Al in the Ever After, was flaking away but I still couldn't help an image of her digging those nails into my naked shoulders as I let my teeth sink into her neck, from flashing through my mind. I swallowed; we _really_ shouldn't be talking about my family.

Just then the phone rang, making for an excellent distraction.

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><p>"Ivy, look at these boots!" Rachel said with awe as I did my best to look like I was enjoying a day at the mall, looking at silky blouses.<p>

"Sure, they're nice," I said absentmindedly turning back to her. Walking only hurt marginally after a day of rest and a night of plotting.

Rynn's people hadn't found the five vampires we'd left behind us, but they had found what they thought to be the ashes of an undead vampire and fresh tire track's. Someone had been there, but not until after the sun had fried Ralph good. Still there was no trace of the girls and the four spelled living vampires were gone. Upon hearing that, I had remembered Mike's name tag. With the computer already in my lap, finding him on Stub's sushi's webpage had taken me all of two minutes– he was employee of the month and had his photo splattered all over the page. Rynn was allowing me to bring the idiot to him personally. Hench the reason we were in the mall, in a store just a across from Stub's sushi.

I guessed the shifts would be changing around three so until then we were just waiting. I was sure he would be back, someone who became employee of the month didn't just stop coming to work. Even if it was just a sushi place. Rachel on the other hand was sure the guy wouldn't show and was busy looking excited at all the stuff in the exclusive vampire boutique we were in. _Marla's Marvelous Leather _usually only attracted a vampiric clientele but today was their lucky day and they had a witch oohing and awing over their things, which was serving to make the lady (who I supposed was Marla) behind the counter somewhat uneasy.

"Those are actually pretty nice," I told her with a little more after thought looking at the black leather boots. They were kind of like mine but sturdier. Rachel quickly took them off the display (making Marla flinch behind the counter. Like Rachel just touching them would somehow make them witchy? _Some people…_) When Rachel put the boots on I was surprised they didn't make her look like she was wearing boats on her feet, which sometimes could be the case with slightly sturdier leather boots. "You should get them," I told her with a small smile.

"You think?"

"Yeah it'll be a nice surprise for yourself; those are just the kinds you like," I said truthfully.

"To bad they don't come in red. I would have liked them in red, I think," she frowned as if really trying to remember. I was just about to tell her that if she asked the nice sale's lady she probably had a pair of them in red somewhere(and _My_ Rachel would probably prefer them in color rather than black) but a familiar face over by Stub's sushi made me turn and forget shoe shopping.

"He's here. Let's go," I said before abruptly turning towards the entrance of the shop.

"_Happy Valentine's Day_," a man selling balloons told me as I headed for the sushi bar. I resisted the urge to smack him, and a second later Rachel caught up with me.

"You want me to use my splat gun?" Rachel asked as we watched the young Mike come out from the staff door with an apron around his waist.

"No, I want him to hurt," I said with more menace than I had intended. But this fucker was bad, he'd sold run away girls for blood and sex and been part of trying to kill Rachel and me. That meant he deserved everything he got.

"Good," Rachel said putting her splat gun down. "I want him to hurt too."

It was over far too soon for my liking. With two pissed off women coming for him Mike had done the only sane thing a guy could do and that was to try to run for it. Too bad for him I was faster and we were still in the sushi place, right by the counter, when I managed to trip him. The noise he caused while falling down was impressive and tables and chairs flew everywhere as he tried to scramble away.

"Please don't hurt me, Kim made me do it," Mike almost screamed as he struggled to get away. I stood over him just looking down at him. Because it's damn scary to have a pissed off vamp stare down at you and very affective for making people talk. Or pee their pants. Mike thankfully did the first thing and opened his mouth. "He got me in contact with them I didn't mean- I'm a victim in all of this too, please help me, I need help-" I kicked him in the nose, (causing a satisfying crunch,) which shut him up very effectively.

"He was a bad guy," Rachel reassured the clerk who looked very pale. "Could we get some sushi to go?"

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><p>Thanks for RxR! I've always been confused about Ivy's computer (actually it's probably computer<strong>s<strong> since Rache keeps breaking them. But Ivy always replaces them, in like, five minutes.) Is her computer a desktop or a laptop? I've always imagined she uses a super high tech macbook, but that's just me! Anyway for this story her computer is a laptop.


	7. Chapter 7

**Part**: 7 of 10

**A/N**: The world goes round, round, round and frankly it's making me feel a little bit sick. It (time) goes by so freaking fast and I'm just feeling it right now. I mean in a few years people are going to start shooting out kids and buying houses. It's so weird, last year I was in high school and now I'm out in the big bad scary world. They should have prepared us better. Anyways - Happy Valentine's Day one week in advance!

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><p><strong>Seven<strong>

"You sure he won't suffocate back there?"Rachel asked only sounding mildly concerned about the unconscious vampire in the trunk of the car.

"Fairly," I smiled. "I'll take you back to the church, don't want a bunch of vampires in the same room as you when you can't defend yourself," I told her half lying. What I was really worried about was her seeing the monster I could be when needed. Memory-less Rachel had seen enough of my dark side and I was surprised she was still around. But watching me with Rynn trying to get the vampire to talk (something it appeared Mikey-boy was more than willing to do, if judging by the way he had babbled at the sushi place) might be the thing that made her run screaming. Besides, I needed to slake my blood-lust before it became unbearable to be in the same room with Rachel.

"I'm you… know…. sorry," Rachel said after a few minutes of comfortable silence. "About the other night. I get why you didn't want to do anything the other night, I was just stupid. I'm just sorry."

I didn't say anything as we turned on to our street. Only frowned and grasped the steering wheel harder. I didn't like her apologizing; it made me feel like a fraud for making her say sorry for something that was my fault. It was my instincts that had messed our relationship up the first time, it was me that had the stupid feelings and desires. She couldn't help that they had rubbed off on her when she had no other memories. _My_ Rachel might like me – even want me, even if she couldn't admit it – but she had never come on to me like this Rachel had. So it was more than likely I had been the one to cause it. Which made me feel both worse and better. Worse since it was all my fault, but better because I hadn't taken advantage of her. I had stayed strong.

"I'm sorry about letting you get hurt too. I shouldn't have left to get the car; I should have stayed and shot at them or something. I've been a lot of trouble haven't I?"She took a fast breath. "I guess I should have stayed with my mom. But the spell should be over by now. It's been almost a week," she continued in a rush. I agreed, she really should be getting back to normal soon. The fear that she'd never go back to _My_ Rachel made my gut feel tight. There was another problem as well. In a little over 12 hours Al would be showing up to take her to the Ever After. I wasn't sure what I'd do if she wasn't herself by then. It wasn't like I could really tell her she had to go and hang out with a demon for 24 hours. Without magic even a short stay like that would be enough for Al to make her go mad twice over if he wanted to.

"It's okay," I said noncommittally. "None of this is your fault."

"But it is, I shouldn't have pushed you that night after we went to _Stone_. I mean it was really, really stupid of me. I should have thought. You love _me-me_. The real Rachel. Not the body or the blood. You couldn't ever just sleep with me once and forget about it. You really want it all and not just for a few days. For good," she looked at me with shiny eyes and I shifted uneasily as I pulled up by the church and put the car in park.

"I suppose that's one way of putting it," I still didn't look at her as I waited for her to get out. Only she didn't get out of the car.

"But you do _want_ me and if the real me offered you everything like that you would take it!" Rachel leaned back in her seat looking at me intensely with those too green eyes that I always thought could see through me.

"Yes," I said in a whisper. It hadn't really been a question but I answered anyway.

"Good, because that's what I'm going to write in my letter, " Rachel said taking her seat belt off.

"Letter?" I turned to her and frowned.

"I told you remember? I'm writing a letter to myself," Rachel said with a dazzling smile as she turned. When she said it I remembered. I felt a little worried for just what she would put in there. Maybe the worry showed on my face because Rachel added, "don't worry; I'll only write good things about you."

"Like how I seem to like to be miserable and can't keep you safe?" I asked feeling bitter.

"No, like how you were willing to sacrifice yourself to save me. Heck Ivy you almost died. If that undead vampire had decided to kill you before I got the splat gun you'd be dead. I'm also going to tell myself to stop being a prude and admit to liking both boys and girls," she said the last part with a little color on her cheeks.

"You think you'll believe yourself?" I mocked, managing a smile. I could imagine Rachel reading the letter from herself and totally flipping out. It would take the world ending or something along those lines for her to admit to herself, let alone me, she might not be as straight as she'd always thought.

"Maybe," she said sounding a little unsure. "But you are like this beautiful creature you can't help but to find attractive. I mean guys and girls alike, you are like this magnet. I'd known you for like a day when I asked you to…you know," Rachel smiled. "I think you might be part goddess."

"Perhaps," I said between tight lips. What she was saying was somewhat true, people found me attractive enough to do the stupidest of things for. But that had never been a good thing for me. Not the first time when I was barely fourteen and Piscary had called me to his bed or as I tried to change my life later. It hadn't seemed to have changed what Rachel wanted. It didn't matter to her how beautiful I was because I was a woman.

"I really do think my letter will be convincing, I mean I won't ever get to experience being with you because once I turn back to Rachel, _I _won't exist. At least not this way as the person I am now. But she will read the letter and understand, I'll make sure of it. She wants this as much as me. Maybe more," Rachel said sounding almost pleading. I didn't say anything but her words made me feel lighter somehow. There was some sort of child like enthusiasm to this Rachel; she thought a letter would fix it all. Sighing she turned to the door.

"Wait," my hand shot out to grab her wrist but I stopped myself before I actually touched her. She twisted back to me.

"What?" she was still smiling, looking lovely. The car smelled so good, her and me together. _Focus_.

"Tomorrow morning at eight you need to go out and stand in the graveyard. Find the ley-line, there is going to be a demon-"

"Al, I know. My mother told me," Rachel said while rolling her eyes.

"I didn't know your mother knew about Al," I said with a frown. I supposed Alice couldn't be completely clueless to where her daughter went all Saturday. Every week.

"Good. Then you know you'll just have to talk to him and explain that since you don't remember magic he can't take you. Alright?"

"I'll try, but I don't know if convincing demons is the easiest thing to do," she actually didn't look worried at all, something that made me feel extremely anxious.

"I might not be home until morning or even tomorrow night but if you can't convince him to leave you alone, you run to holy ground. The sun is up by eight fifteen so you're safe as long as you stay out of the ley-line. If I'm not home by dark you stay in the sanctuary or your bed room. Those rooms are consecrated and the demon can't get you there," I told her quickly. I reached out for her hand."Promise me."

"I promise," she said and squeezed my fingers. I had to pull my hand away quickly and take shallow breath's. Our scents were mixing and it smelled _so_ good. She was too close and I just wanted to take her. Thankfully right then Rachel opened her car door.

"Hey Ivy?" Rachel said turning back slightly, leaning towards me. "Happy Valentine's Day." She smiled and kissed me on my cheek. Pulling back she had a look I couldn't call anything other than seductive.

I rolled my stiff shoulders, I had helped Rynn and his people get the truth from sushi Mike. Right now they were out, going out to the location Mike had said the girls were being held. But Rynn hadn't wanted me involved with the rescue. And while I was itching to get personal revenge on the people that had hurt me, hurt those girls and hurt Rachel, I knew better than to disobey the master of the city. Besides Mike had said something about I.S. involvement and protection for the operation, and I knew I.S. business was also something to stay out of. Still I wished I could have been the one to rescue Lucy and bring her back to her family.

Despite that, I felt like whistling as I parked the car. I had taken the opportunity to meet with a _friend_ since I wasn't sure exactly where me and Rachel stood but was feeling like the night could get complicated and I wasn't about to go into it hungry. Still I was excited about tonight. The look Rachel had given me before leaving the car made me feel confident. Something, _anything,_ could happen tonight. Only as soon as I opened the door my good mood evaporated. The church smelled of blood; Rachel's blood.

"Rachel? Jenks?" I called out as I entered the sanctuary.

"Don't you answer your phone woman?" Jenks said from the coffee table, I stared in surprise at the broken wing Matalina was trying to mend with some red first-aid tape. There were several other pixies looking battered with tattered wings around the room.

"Where is Rachel?" I asked the pixie feeling the anger growing inside of me.

"They took her," Jenks cried. "Dammed vamp lunkers came and took her. I- we all tried to fight them Ivy, but, but, there was this one vampire he was too fast. I'm sorry, it's all my fault." The pixie hung his head. I frowned; only an old undead, a master, or perhaps a master's scion was fast enough to catch a pixie. I had a fair idea of who had done this. Silently I turned towards the scent of Rachel's blood.

There wasn't a lot of it, just enough for what they needed. The words BACK OFF were written on the floor in blood. It only took a second before I found the other scent I was looking for. The living vampire Kim A.K.A Slime hair– had been in my church. And he had just signed up for a double death seminary - taught by the one and only _Ivy Tamwood_.

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><p>Pink balloons for all reviewers! You know you want to!<p> 


	8. Chapter 8

**Part**: 8 of 10

**A/N**: The end is near! Only two chapters left. Sorry it took me a while to get this posted I was busy with school stuff! Sorry if it's a bit choppy, I wrote parts of it first and then went back and added the "boring parts."

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><p><strong>Eight<strong>

"They were probably following you. Or they already knew about the vampire and witch living in a church. You are pretty famous, in some circles," Rynn's calm voice told me, sounding slightly strange over the phone. Or maybe he was hiding the amusement he surely felt. Undead vampires, no matter how nice they seemed, enjoyed other people's pain. I knew that better than most. Still Rynn was my best chance at finding Rachel.

"Or maybe they had a guy in the mall watching Mike? He could have followed us. Son of a bitch," I swore and hit the car's dashboard. "If they figured out we got him they might move the girls."

"Don't worry, we're watching them as we get some people and weapons ready to go in. We're leaving the I.S. out of this," he calmly told me. "We only got here a few moments ago but have just confirmed there are indeed several vampires and almost a dozen girls in the boat house."

"Sir," I heard a vampire on the other side tell Rynn. "A van just drove up; they let it into the garage."

"Rachel might be in it," I said quickly to Rynn as if he couldn't guess that himself. I felt my heart pick up speed. Rachel might be alright; this might not be the end of the world. I could get her back.

"We'll need to be careful when we go in, tell everyone there is now a valuable hostage in there," Rynn ordered the other vampire. I felt a little sick. The other girls hadn't been valuable? Probably not – runaways no one would miss – Rynn would have been more interested in sending the message that _no one_ was allowed to poach from his city. Perhaps Rachel getting kidnapped would end up saving a lot of lives. That somehow didn't make me feel better.

"Rynn," I said quickly as I feared he would hang up. "Rachel can't use her magic, I mean," I didn't want to explain about Rachel's memory loss but he needed to know she was next to defenseless. "I mean they must have put silver on her or else she would have escaped," I lied. "She won't be able to protect herself from anything."

"Of course," Rynn said, "I'll make sure they know."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes," I said, pushing the gas pedal a little harder.

"We'll wait for you, if we can," Rynn said before hanging up. I wished I was on my bike, but with the snow that had once again started to fall over Cincinnati I thought the car was best. Both for safety and heat once I got Rachel back. And I _was_ getting her back.

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><p>Driving down towards the docks where sushi Mike had said the group had their head quarters and the girls were being held, I looked at the sword I had pulled out from under my bed and smiled because I knew there would be blood on it before the night was over. Looking up as I drove around the bend I saw flames and the strange smell I had been scenting for nearly a mile made sense.<p>

Parts of the dock were on fire.

"Rynn," I called as I parked the car and pulled out the sword. The undead master vampire was standing some ways off from the rest of the action. He turned to me his eyes gleaming.

"Go and join them," he said softly, "this is your fight too."

Like I really needed encouragement. I was already heading across the open space towards the large boathouse people were running out of as more of it caught fire. So much for keeping the I.S. out of it. A fire was sloppy and would draw attention. But that was probably what Rynn wanted. He was sending a message. I didn't care as long as I got Rachel and we were able to get out of here before the I.S. showed up.

I recognized a vampire with his hair and parts of his back burning, running towards the parking space and I lashed out at him with the razor sharp blade. He cried out and clutched at his half severed arm. He was the guy that had gone after Rachel yesterday, the one whose nose she had broken. I would have loved to watch him bleed out. Or burn up. But I was looking for Rachel. She was my priority. She and Slime hair.

I saw someone with curly hair on the ground some way off and ran for her, but as I turned her over I noticed two things at once. She was very dead (as in her throat had been completely torn out) and she wasn't Rachel. I stood back up, there was nothing I could do for her. I looked around and I saw a cluster of girls heading towards the parking lot. I was fairly sure Rachel wasn't among them. Rynn's men were making quit work of the scumbags and I look towards the burning boathouse. She wasn't out here. So I was reasonable sure where she actually was.

I ran for the building, thankful someone had at least had the brains to set only the back parts on fire. It would be smoky inside but I could handle that. The warehouse was a large mostly open space, boats, cars, a few vans, but no people. But to my left there was an open door that led to a corridor. There were half a dozen closed doors and thankfully no smoke. I ran down the corridor, slamming doors open as I went. They were all empty. The door at the end of the corridor was locked and I kicked it open, with a little too much force. The wood shattered partly and splinters flew everywhere.

There was no one in the room.

I swallowed and looked around the empty area. There was a cot and little else. No windows and nothing on the wooden walls. It was as close to a prison you could get without actually being in one. In a panic I ran back out into the open part of the boathouse. Cars, vans and boats were being opened by Rynn's vampire lackeys. Looking out through the open door I noticed the fight was as good as over.

I took a deep breath. Rachel wasn't in the building. She hadn't been outside. She wasn't anywhere. I swallowed and leaned back against an abandoned van. Someone would find her and then they would come and find me. Yeah. I only had to stay here and someone would find my witch. They would. Any second now.

I only had to wait one minute before that someone showed up. Only he didn't bring the news I was hoping for.

"Rynn said I was to report to you once I talked with the girls. They said they hadn't seen anyone with red hair named Rachel. One blond named Rebecca but no Rachel," a bulky vampire I had seen work security at Rynn's place but didn't know the name of, told me with a deep voice. I felt clearly that he had enjoyed the mayhem of the night but was now bored with all the crying girls around. At his words my stomach felt like it might turn itself inside out. I had checked everywhere but I was sure I had just missed her. Where could she be? She had to be here.

I turned away from the big vampire and called the church. Jenks had been distraught enough as I left and was probably dying for an update. And it wasn't like I knew what to do next. I had no good place to start. Maybe the church but I had looked there. Or the factory, or maybe this boathouse held the clues. But with all the girls and vampires tramping around there was probably not much helpful information left. Maybe sushi Mike would become lucid again in a day or two but I was worried Rachel didn't have that much time. They had taken her as a threat but now that we had taken them down, what would happen to her?

"Rachel wasn't here Jenks, she wasn't at the place with the other girls," I told the machine. "But don't worry, I _will_ get her back." I swallowed and took a deep breath. "We'll keep looking until we find her. I promise Jenks, I will find her." I hung up and a sudden thought struck me. I tapped the big guy's shoulder.

"What?" he asked annoyed pulling a cell phone from his ear.

"What about Lucy, did they find a girl named Lucy Thower?" I asked, spinning around trying to look at the group of girls just visible through the open door, trying to find a blond head among dozens of people milling around in the dark, out and away from the boathouse.

"I don't know, but I didn't see a Lucy on the list," the vamp told me looking bothered as he handed me a clipboard with names on it. I guess Rynn wanted to know who exactly had been here, not that I thought the names on the list were the girl's real names. But in some ways he was liked me and liked to plan and keep track of things.

"Ivy my dear," Rynn walked up to us looking slightly out of place in his three piece suit. "Any bright ideas for finding our witch?"

I wanted to growl at him for calling Rachel _our_ witch. She was _mine_ and no one else's. "I don't know, I'll take a look around the boathouse and see if I can find any clues or maybe go back to the place we were attacked," I said feeling despondent.

"That sounds like it will take a long while, she might die long before that," Rynn said as if he was stating the fact that it was snowing. I turned away from him and slammed my fists into a van.

"I know that," I cried. "She might be dead already, god Rynn tell me what to do?" I begged, still facing the van, feeling worthless. Rachel would laugh at me for not figuring it out. Or possibly cry for asking –no- begging a master to help. I couldn't look anywhere but at the ground.

"I don't know any more than you," Rynn said managing to color his words with sympathy. I blinked back a tear, then wiped furiously at them as more began to fall. I was a big girl. Big girls didn't cry. I slammed my fists into the gray van again. A grey van with a green tree on it.

"I know where to go," I said quickly turning towards the car.

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><p>"Welcome to West Cinci Large Car and Van Rental, how may we help you," the fat middle aged living vamp behind the counter said in a bored tone as a purple haired girl in her late teens also behind the counter painted her nails. The scent made my nose burn and was a strange contrast to the bloody sword I was trailing behind me. Rynn had sent the big security vampire who I found out was named Cole, to accompany on my little crusade and as he entered the small office he locked the door behind him.<p>

"You _may_ help me by getting me GPS coordinates for one of your rentals," I said very low and as soft as I could so the anger I felt wouldn't spill over. But the guy was one of those stellar try to be stand up citizens which I did not have time for.

"We are not allowed to give out any information that may conflict, with, with, our clients…" the guy began stuttering defensive despite clearly being scared of me or more specifically the sword he'd just noticed.

"Now," I swung the sword up and held it to the guy's throat. Cole chuckled over by the door. "You'll tell me exactly what I want to know, or by morning you'll be dead twice over."

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><p>Thanks for RxR! I love puppies and I'm dog sitting one twice a week! It's just super fun!<p> 


	9. Chapter 9

**Part**: 9 of 10

**A/N**: I've read the preview chapters too many times for it to be healthy and I'm so loving A Perfect Blood! Loving it! Or something. It seems like one of the better books anyway. If you want my two cents. But I kind of love all Hollows books. Me B Hollows. Hey they should put that on a T-shirt. Oh and Happy Valentine's Day for real!

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><p><strong>Nine<strong>

The snow outside the passenger window kept on falling faster and heavier in the dark night as I stared with growing horror at the little dot that symbolized the van I had, after some quick calculations, predicted Rachel was in. The dot on the GPS hadn't moved in nearly ten minutes. I imagined it might be a good sign; the van had clearly stopped on a road and not near any building. Perhaps Rachel had gotten her memory back and the knowledge of how to use magic along with it. She could have fought them or at least put herself in a circle. I hoped she had done that, but even then the danger of being out in the cold night made me imagine horrible scenarios where I arrived too late to save her. Arrived to find only a frozen body. Or maybe she had tried to fight them and was hurt, bleeding out. Or I had picked the wrong van and Rachel was in another state and about to be sold off to someone as a blood toy. Or they could have stopped to change to another car, which would make my chances of finding her drop significantly.

Cole drove calmly and with great skill and speed making me thankful the big vampire was with me. Not only was he a fast driver but would also get me there in one piece, something I wasn't sure I would have managed in my own worried condition. So I was thankful because getting there safe and fast would give me the best chance to save Rachel. And I was going to save her, god damn it.

"Relax," Cole said with his deep voice. "We'll be there in a minute."

As if that should make me feel better.

Only it did and less than a minute later I saw the gray van off the side of the road, smoke coming from the crashed car. Thankfully there didn't seem to be a fire. The back was open and looked like it had been thorn open with great strength. I swallowed as I realized Rachel wasn't in the van; she was out in the snow. But she _had_ probably been in the van when it went off the road. I swallowed; her body had been through enough traumas, for something so frail, in the past few days. I should have found her sooner. For a second I went blind and could only hear my own heart beating, then the world seem to come back in-focus only much clearer.

"Wait Ivy," Cole said as I opened the door before the car had fully come to a stop, but I had already leapt out of the car. I took long strides over to the turned over van. I saw the blood before I smelt it, which was strange in itself. But it was Rachel's blood alright. I could also smell Slime hair and I turned to follow the smells and tracks that led towards a small cluster of trees some ways off from the road.

"Rachel?" I cried as I got closer to the trees and saw someone on the ground. Only when I was a dozen feet away I noticed it wasn't Rachel but Slime hair. He had a large gash on his head and was clearly unconscious. I felt relieved and pissed off at the same time. I had wanted to kick Slime hair's ass - and the rest of him for that matter – to mars.

"You stay back," someone yelled and I turned around as the someone stepped out from behind a tree. I blinked as I realized it was Rachel and dropped my sword. Her hair was standing on end and she held her hands out stretched like she could shoot fire out of them. I was fairly certain not even _My_ Rachel could shoot fire out of her palms, but she could kick out a nasty blast of ley-line energy. That was probably how she had taken Slime hair down.

"It's okay Rachel, it's me. I'm not going to hurt you," I coaxed and wondered if this was _My_ Rachel or the _Other_ Rachel. I guess from how frightened she looked she was _Other_ Rachel. _My_ Rachel wouldn't be as freaked out by a vampire attack. Probably.

"Ivy, it was-oh god," Rachel lowered her hands as she blinkingly looked at me as if not having realized who I was until just then. I slipped off my duster and wrapped it around Rachel because as soon as she realized it was me and not another vampire she had gone completely still and very pale. Her adrenaline would soon be back to normal and when that happened she would be freezing. Sighing, I took inventory of her injuries and while no of them were life threatening they were probably painful.

"It's going to be fine Rachel," I said softly as Rachel's eyes went out of focus. "Just take a few deep breaths." She did as she was told, and then looked up at me with wet eyes.

"I was so scared Ivy," she whispered and then quickly leaned forward to hug me. I let her knowing she needed it almost as much as I did. She was alright. It hadn't sunk in until just then that she was safe. Rachel was safe. I had rescued her. Or more like she had rescued herself.

"Try not to get kidnapped in the future," I scolded her as she pulled away slightly. "It's not good for my health."

"Sorry," she whispered her face inches away from mine. I took a quick breath about to step away from her but she reached up and touched my face and I froze. This wasn't like all the other times I had been this close to Rachel, this close to kissing her. This wasn't a game or an attempt to prove something. This was _Rachel_ leaning forward to kiss _me_.

Rachel's lips were cold but tasted vaguely of the strawberry lip balm she sometimes wore and kissing her was beautiful. All the fear and adrenaline of the last hour combined with the sudden hormone release made me feel dizzy. Or maybe that was just the kissing. I wanted to pull her closer, touch more of her, but I was afraid of hurting her. And afraid she would, like always, step away from me. One step forward, two steps back. That had always been the Rachel way. But tonight was different in so many ways and she kept kissing me.

"Ladies?" Cole said and I wanted to strangle him for interrupting us. Rachel took a few steps back, her cheeks slightly flushed but her skin still looking disturbingly pale. She needed to get warmed up and while the cut on her face looked fairly clean it probably wouldn't hurt to put a band-aid on it.

"This is Cole," I said turning slightly towards the big vampire but still keeping close to Rachel. I didn't want to look away from her because I felt like she might disappear from right underneath me.

"Where is the vamp?" Cole asked looking around the clearing. I spun around, looking at the place where Slime hair had been and then to where I had dropped my sword. Both were gone.

But I didn't have to wonder for long where they were, because the sword came rushing towards me a second later. I flung both myself and Rachel back and down and watched as Cole stepped forward and with an karate move I doubted even I could have pulled off managed to kick the sword out from Slime hair's fingers. I scrambled to my feet just as Cole was kicked back with impressive force, and Slime hair turned to me.

"Ready for a re-match?" the vampire asked with a grin I couldn't call anything other than sadistic. I didn't bother with a response as he dove for me and I dove for the sword. My hands fund the blade's hilt just as Slime hair grabbed my arm, yanking at the same shoulder he had dislocated a few days earlier and as if I weighed nothing more than a ragdoll tossed me back on the ground.

"You stay away from her," Rachel cried momentarily distracting Slime hair, that had bared his fangs and was about to dive for my neck. I watched in slow motion as Rachel reached her arms out, as if expecting magic to come out of her palms, but nothing happened. Then I watched Slime hair smirk.

As Slime hair turned towards Rachel I pushed off the ground and forced the sword - that I somehow had managed to hold onto - straight into his back. He fell down on the snowy ground, dead.

For a minute no one moved or spoke. Rachel stared at me with surprise and then relief. I was surprised she didn't seem at all upset over seeing me just kill somebody but then again, it had been him or us. I wasn't sure what I felt, but numb was probably the closest. It had been a long time since someone had died at my hand. But I had done what I had to be done.

"What now?" Rachel asked and I shrugged looking at the body of Slime hair.

"I'll put him in the trunk," Cole offered helpfully as he got to his feet looking winded. "I'll make sure he gets taken care of when he wakes up."

* * *

><p>"I'll make sure someone gets the car back to you tomorrow," the big vampire in the front told me as I scooted after Rachel out from the cramped back seat.<p>

"Thanks Cole," I said before quickly closing the door. "Let's go," I told the shivering Rachel that had stopped to wait for me.

"I'm really cold Ivy," she whispered as I opened the door to the church. "I'm really cold."

I could tell she was, even though we'd had the heat on in the car and I was sweating even without my duster. I reached forward to rub at her arms but she hissed in pain, and I took a step back. "I'll run you a hot bath and then we'll get you bandaged up," I told her, looking at the bruise on her cheek and the cut above her eye. I betted she had a few bruised ribs and was feeling sore all over. She at least wasn't frightened and with all the injuries on her I didn't feel a twinge of hunger.

"No," she reached out for my sleeve. "I don't want to," she looked around as if worried someone would hear. There were no pixies around but I knew that didn't mean much if I wanted real privacy, Rachel didn't though, and continued. "I just, I just want to stay near you," she said with her green eyes clearly showing worry. I felt bad then; Rachel was scared, but just like _My_ Rachel she didn't want to admit it. She had no means of protecting herself - even if she had managed to somehow use ley-line magic against Slime hair - so she was counting on me to keep her safe. Not that I had done a very good job today. "Besides I'm too tired for a bath, I might fall asleep and drown," she tried to smile but her slightly blue lips didn't seem to want to cooperate.

"Alright, no bath, come on." I took her hand and pulled her with me, stopping to think where I would take her. Her bedroom? Mine? It was clear Rachel was about to fall asleep on her feet and the couch would be too small for comfortable sleep. I remembered how _My_ Rachel once said she knew my smell and guessed she would know it wasn't supposed to be in her bedroom – once she got her memory back, if she ever did – so mine might be better. I'd deal with my room smelling of Rachel's and my mixed scent somehow. I knew Rynn had a lot of special connections in cleaning companies – maybe I could get a deal for them to clean my room. Magic and an industrial vacuum cleaner would probably take care of it. Yes, my room was better.

"Pretty," Rachel said slowly as she looked around my room, simply having stopped when I let go of her. _Pretty_ wasn't what I had been going for but it didn't really matter at the moment.

"Sit down," I ordered her as she seemed lost and she limped to the bed. "Up," I said softly tugging on her left foot. She obliged and I pulled the wet boot off her foot and then repeated the process.

"Ivy," Rachel mumbled sleepily. "It smells really good in here," I smiled as I pulled my wet duster off her, then the slightly muddy hoodie too. Rachel's arms looked bluish against her white tank top and at that moment blue was not a good color for her. "Could you remind me to put this in my letter, that after I kissed you took me to bed, I'm sure other me will love that," she muttered, swaying with exhaustion and tense with cold. At least she wasn't shaking, something she had been doing for parts of the car ride. Her chattering teeth had made me really worried something was wrong. Vampires didn't ever get cold enough for our teeth to rattle.

"Come on," I pulled the covers back, thinking getting her jeans off would have been good but Rachel's eyes were drooping and the damp jeans were of the tight variety and would take some work to get off. Rachel climbed in to bed; her movement reminding me a bit of a three-toed sloth (me and Rachel had watched a documentary about one a few months back.)

"Ivy," Rachel said her eyes closed as she reached for my hand as I pushed the covers up around her. "With me. Keep me warm." I felt about as tired as Rachel looked and while I had been planning on sleeping in a chair next to the bed, the king sized bed was a lot more comfortable and at that moment much more tempting than the chair. I walked around to the other side of the bed and lay down on top of the covers stiffly. Rachel opened an eye and moved across the bed closer to me. I looked at her bruises and was almost glad for them, because with them on her face I didn't feel the need to sink my teeth into her. Not even with her this close. But that still left a whole lot of other desires unfulfilled.

"We're just sleeping next to each other Ivy," Rachel said as if knowing I was a little worried. "And I'm too hurt for you to want to bite me. And since we're just sleeping, other me can't object, right? We're fine," and with that Rachel put her head on my shoulder and fell asleep.

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><p>Thanks for RxR! What you think? Is Rache EVER going to remember? And what about Lucy? Will there be anymore kissing?<p> 


	10. Chapter 10

**Part**: 10 of 10 (Yay finally done!)

**A/N**: Best song ever Killer and a Queen – Underworld: Awakening soundtrack! This chapter really should have been two chapters but I just wanted to be done with the story. Sorry guys!

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><p><strong>Ten<strong>

I didn't think I would be able to go to sleep, it felt too good to hold Rachel, but I had apparently at some point, because the buzzing of my phone woke me. I slid it out of my pocket, surprised it had survived last night's fairly violent activities.

"_Ivy, Rynn wants you down here for a debriefing as soon as possible,"_ Cole's rough voice told me without bothering with a hello. I squeezed the phone a little, looking down at Rachel. She was still asleep on me and she was looking almost too beautiful. I swallowed as our mixed scents made my hunger rise. The bruise on her face was fading and she looked healthy again. Perfect for a vampire snack. Maybe this sleeping in the same bed thing had been a bad idea.

"Alright," I answered without breathing and hung up on Cole. "Rachel, wake up," I whispered touching her shoulder lightly. She groaned and mumbled something I couldn't make out.

"Rynn wants to talk to us. He'll probably be up for an hour or two after sunrise but we should still hurry," I said as I hopped off the bed, finally able to breathe.

"What about Al?" Rachel asked worried. As she got out of the bed she tugged her top down and then followed me out of my bedroom and down the corridor towards the kitchen.

"I guess we can wait ten minutes so you can ask for the day off," I said looking at the clock, then back at Rachel. It was just a little before eight. I really hoped Al would see how meaningless dragging Rachel to the Ever After would be.

"Then we-"

"Rachel," I said feeling my heart rate rise rapidly.

"What? Oh," she reached up to wipe the thin trail of blood that was coming from her nose. "It's just a nose bleed Ivy," she said and rolled her eyes. Then she took a step towards me and in mid stride her body went limp. I swiftly caught her before she hit the floor.

"Hey, you're alright," I said comforting, putting her down on the carpet and moving away a little bit so I wasn't touching her. Her eyes opened halfway and she tried to smile. "It'll be fine," I whispered whishing I could actually hold her as she breathed shallowly, clearly in pain. I reached out and touched her hair, wanting to lend comfort, but unsure of just how. My instincts might be somewhat tempered by the fact that she was clearly ill. But the fear she had begun to kick out along with the blood – even if it was just a nosebleed– made me think the less risks I took the better.

"I don't, Ivy, I can't," she panted and I stroked her hair. I could at least do that without getting hungry. I wished I could be clean and pure on the inside, much like Rachel. I wished I wasn't this way. Wished I could have been normal, so that I could have held her as tears began to leak from her eyes.

"It's going to be alright," I tried to soothe. "Just lie still."

"Ivy, I don't, I can't… remember… but I think….think I figured it out…" she panted and then passed out. I felt my heart get a little bit heavier. Rachel hadn't gotten the time to write that letter to herself. Not that I thought it would have really mattered, but with Rachel you never knew. Now she wouldn't remember anything of the week or of last night. And looking at the bite on her neck I guessed I was going to have a lot of explaining to do.

* * *

><p>"Hi," a pale young living vampire said as I opened the church's door. "Are you Ivy Tamwood?" she asked shuffling her feet.<p>

"Yes," I answered without any real interest. Rachel had been back from the Ever After -which she had rushed off to as soon as she woke up after her memory black out - for nearly a day and had spent the whole time in the kitchen spelling and ignoring me. She seemed to have no memories at all of the week she'd lost. It was right out depressing. Things had been changing between us, even if it hadn't really been _My_ Rachel she still had been Rachel in some ways.

"I think you've been looking for me," the young vampire said looking embarrassed and I blinked.

"Lucy?"

"Yeah," she answered and as I looked closer at her, I noticed the similarities to the picture I had been given. Only this girl had brown hair and was thinner. "Could you tell my parents not to look for me? I don't want to come home, I hate it there. I know that sound stupid but ever since my dad became an undead too, it doesn't feel like home anymore. I still love them but I want to remember them the way they were," she hung her head as she finished. "Could you tell them that?" She looked up with big green eyes that reminded me of Rachel's.

"Alright," I said slowly and nodded. If she didn't want to be found I wasn't going to keep looking for her. I knew what it was like to have one undead parent, even if I hadn't lived with mine; living with two was bound to be hell. "Here," I reached for one of the business cards I had stacked on the small table next to the door and handed it to her. "Call if you ever need help or someone you know needs it."

Lucy smiled and took the card. Then she walked off into the afternoon, looking to my eyes, quite happy. I almost wished I could runaway too. I thought about Lucy's problem. She wanted to remember them the way they were, the things she had done with her parents, the things that had made them all happy. But those where times her parents no longer could really feel. Part of me could relate, part of me missed the _Other_ Rachel more than I had any right to.

"Hey Ivy," Rachel called from the kitchen and I closed the door and turned. I considered going to my room to sulk but in there was the box with the leather boots _Other_ Rachel had been so in love with – in red. I'd gone out and bought them when Rachel had been in the Ever After, because I just couldn't sit in the church for 24 hours waiting and wondering. So after I'd watched Rynn decapitate Slime hair and put his head in a box to send to his master I had gone shopping. But now, I would feel stupid if I gave them to her. I'd have to tuck them away and wait for her birthday. Or maybe if I gave them to her they might spark some memory. I wasn't sure I wanted that though. I wanted all the memoires back or none of them. Anything in between would be too hard.

"Who was at the door?" Rachel asked as I entered the kitchen. I stared at her for a moment as she stirred a pot not looking at me. I felt a little sick seeing her so clearly not affected at all by the time she'd spent with me, not remembering.

"No one," I said, shrugging. "A client, sort of."

"Okay, um, did I get any important mail while I was… you know," Rachel rolled her eyes, "not me. Oh damn it," she'd spilt a small amount of the potion - on the long sleeved shirt she was wearing –a shirt that looked a lot like one I had in my own closet. Only _My_ Rachel knew not to wear my clothes so it couldn't be my shirt.

"No," I said quickly checking my computer, but not sitting down in case I felt like running away. Away from _My_ Rachel. Away from the Rachel I'd wanted back. I sighed. I wasn't sure what I wanted or was about to do. "Nothing really, I put the bills in your bill folder," which I knew she never checked. "And the other stuff I already went through. Nothing else in the mail."It wasn't really a lie. Because what I had, hadn't come with the mail.

I had found, what I'd guessed, was Rachel's letter to herself. It was a small folded up piece of paper with lots of crossed out text and one sentence written at the bottom. _Stop being stupid and become who you are supposed to be_. I had found the note in the fridge while Rachel was in the Ever After and wasn't sure what to do with it. Give it to her? Not give it to her? Besides, the advice was hardly life changing. The note was at the moment getting very wrinkly in my pocket while I thought about what to do with it.

"Could you pour me some juice?" Rachel asked sounding absentminded, pouring in two different pots simultaneously, clearly trying to count at the same time. I frowned but headed to the fridge to get her the _fucking_ juice.

I lifted the OJ carton and to my surprise a note on the same paper as the other note I had found in the fridge was under it. I wondered if the whole thing was full of notes. I read. _Stop being stupid and be who you want to be_. Making me think of the inspirational shit you sometimes found in fortune cookies and forums for anorexics. I carefully took the note and slid it into my pocket with the first one.

"You don't like juice," I said suspicious as I poured the drink for her.

"It's for you; you'll need it because this is going to taste kind of bad," she said while scrunching up her face and prinking her finger to drop three drops of blood into a small glass with grey/green looking potion. She held it out for me with the firm expression my mother use to have when she was trying to get me to take my medicine as a kid.

"I'm not drinking that."

"Ivy…"she cajoled.

"No, "I said firmly.

"Look Ivy, do you trust me?" she asked, almost sounding hurt.

"Yes," I said after a second. I did trust her even if I didn't trust magic.

"Then drink it," she said softly.

So I did.

It tasted bad, just like Rachel had said it would. Rachel gasped and grabbed the counter just as I took a swing of the OJ desperate to clear my mouth of the foul taste. I waited for something to happen, but the only thing that was acting strange was Rachel. It took me a second to figure it out.

"It was a demon curse? What did you…" I asked feeling pissed off.

"Just a small one, don't worry."

"Rachel," I said my voice a clear warning that I wanted to know what was going on or things would get scary.

"You know what I said," I wasn't sure what she was talking about but she continued before I could ask. "But you can't have it all Ivy. You can't have my blood."

I felt my eyes widen. "_You could have it all. My body, my blood, my heart._" But that was _Other_ Rachel's words. How would _My_ Rachel know about that?

"You remember?" I asked stupidly.

"Yes," she said turning to put the left over potion in little vials.

"But your mom said…" Alice had said she wouldn't remember. Rachel had pretended? Usually I could catch her in a lie in about a minute.

"I'm a demon remember? Maybe it didn't work because of that. Or maybe it was for the same reason I didn't get bound when that piss ass vamp bit me," I blinked. That was a memory I would have rather she'd forgotten.

"You really do remember," I said feeling the anger simmering just beneath my skin. I stared at her and felt our scents mixing. That shirt really did look familiar.

"Yes."

"Why wouldn't you tell me?" I asked feeling my cheeks heat up. I had a good idea of why. She couldn't deal with her feelings and actions. Like usual.

"Because if this didn't work," she waved her hand towards the glass that had held the potion I had just consumed, "then neither would we."

"Then what did you give me?" I asked getting closer to her breathing in her fear.

"Can't you figure that out for yourself? You're pissed off, I'm wearing your shirt and you aren't vamping out."

"What?" I blinked, taking a step back, realizing she was right. I was pissed at her but I didn't want to bite her. But that was…impossible.

"I fixed your blood lust. It's just temporary we'll need to re-do it every week but the smut from the curse isn't that bad," she said quickly.

"I don't understand," I backed even further. There was just something in the way Rachel was looking at me. In a way I hadn't seen before, almost tender.

"I remember and -"

"No," I said firmly. I turned and I heard Rachel call for me to stop. I didn't, instead I rushed to my room not sure if to hide there or to try to escape through my window. Instead of doing either one of those I picked the boots from the store up. Maybe Rachel wrote that letter she was talking about, read it and was pretending to remember. That almost made sense. _My_ Rachel wouldn't lie to me. _My_ Rachel wouldn't look at me the way she just had… and she wouldn't remember the boots.

"Tell me about these," I said putting the box with the red leather boots down. Her eyes lit up and she smiled.

"You bought them for me?" she asked excitedly and opened the box. The beautiful boots smelled new and Rachel touched them lovingly. "In red? Nice," she smiled up at me and her look of happiness dimmed somewhat probably because of the scowl on my face. She walked around the counter to stand in front of me and I felt overwhelmed. She remembered, but she wasn't supposed to. It was almost too much. I felt confused.

"I know why you couldn't tell me what we are, when I asked. You said _partners_ because you don't know. But I do. I know what we are." The winter sunlight was streaming in making Rachel's hair glow beautifully.

"What are we then Rachel?" I asked slowly looking up at her feeling really, really lost for some reason.

"We're different but the same," she said as if that somehow should make sense to me. "I'm instinct you're logic. I'm fire and you're ice. Only some of the times it's the other way around. You're the fire and I'm the logic. When we need it. I guess you could call it partners. Or you could call it perfect."

"Perfect?" I asked raising an eyebrow really liking - if not quite believing where this was going. Rachel took a step closer to me. Maybe I didn't have to worry. Maybe everything would be alright as long as Rachel was standing close to me and looking at me with eyes that were full of love and tenderness.

"Yeah Ivy," she took my hand and squeezed it. "We're perfect. That's what we are," she said, looking straight into my eyes. I could see the complete and utter faith in what she had just said. That it was true. In those green orbs I could see it. She really thought we were perfect. And as she thought it, believed it I did too. I had never in my life been anything other than flawed but for that instance I was truly perfect. A hundred fears and desires passed through me but just then I didn't have time to think anymore because Rachel reached forward and pressed her lips to mine.

**THE END**

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><p>Okay so I was about to stop at. "We're perfect. That's what we are," and just leave it to the imagination to what happens or not happens after that, but I just felt like being mushy so it turned out this way… I have an idea for a sequel (because I know there are a lot of unresolved issues and questions) where Lucy shows up at the church and needs Ivy and Rachel's help. We'll see if I get around to writing it. Depends on how <em>A Perfect Blood<em> turns out I guess.

Hope you enjoyed this story!


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